Embers Eclispe
by NytengaleSamurai
Summary: Embry has the new reservation bad girl moving into his house Now he's suddenly designated correctional officer, cook, babysitter, chauffer...boyfriend? When trouble seeks the girl will that fall apart?
1. Chapter 1

My first shot at a Embry/OC Fic. I think he's sort of neglected but i like him so here it is. Enjoy.  


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"Alexander Blackfox."

"Like the actor? So it's a dude you're having me drive with you to pick up? C'mon Em. You could have at least warned me." Jacob Black grinned.

"Nothing to warn you about. The truth is my old woman said it's a girl. She didn't really elaborate, just told me that this girl will be living with us for the rest of high school. She'd doing a favor for a friend." Embry answered back, smiling. He and Jacob were heading to Seattle International Airport to pick up the new girl. Embry weaved his 4cylinder jeep around the airport traffic and double-parked. He hoped they would be able to find the girl and get back before he got a ticket, which was why he brought Jacob along. Embry pulled out a piece of paper from the backseat and hopped out. On the paper stated the girl's name.

"Are you seriously gonna hold that up?" Jacob chuckled. "Let's be real now. You want someone to steal her identity?!"

"Shut Up! You got a better idea? We don't have a picture." Embry checked his watch, "and her flight landed twenty minutes ago."

"Well shouldn't we walk into the terminal to see where she is? Maybe hold up your nifty sign there, buddy." Jake teased.

"Well how about you walk around this little area here and help out just in case I am standing in the wrong spot."

"Well how about you go right and I go left and maybe I'll pass her right by since I have no clue what she looks like."

"Well she's not that hard to spot, I guess. Short, black girl, I dunno, wearing black from what my mother said."

"Embry, look around, _everybody_ here is short by our standards. And in this crowd a black girl with straightened hair can look like a Hispanic, if she has the right skin tone, and maybe even Native American with the right features, okay. And Black… half the damn population is wearing black."

"Are you guys done arguing yet?" a voice from behind asked. The two guys spun around and looked down at the female standing before them. Her hair was short A-line cut, skin the color of coffee mixed with milk and full lip-glossed lips. Aviators covered her eyes, a grey tokidoki hoody under a black raincoat, black jeans and grey and white checkered Nike airforces. The girl reached up to Embry's sign, snatched it and ripped it in two.

"Listen to your friend, buddy, I could have easily blended in with this crowd and left. Luckily for you I didn't want you to worry too much or take the fall. Aunty can be little neurotic at times." Alexander stated scowling. The two guys exchanged glances at each other.

"Go get my luggage and then we can talk." She pointed in the direction of a cart with four huge duffle bags and three smaller ones. "So which one of you tall, fine men is Embers?" She smiled slyly. Embry cleared his throat.

"It's Embry, Embry Call. This is my best friend Jacob Black." Embry retorted. This girl was rude. She was just rubbing him the wrong way.

"Whatever! Luggage there, bring here, let's go. I wanna see what I got to work with." Most definitely the wrong way.

"We're not you're servants. We're only doing a favor for my mother who is thus doing your mother a favor. I can see now why they sent you away!" Embry snapped. The two stood glaring at each other.

"Chauffeurs are hired to do what they are told. So we got two options, you leave my ass behind and I buy the next ticket to some other city with my own money, therefore you two being the last two people to see me with witnesses of course," Alexander waved her hand around, "OR you can just load the trunk and we could be on our merry way, Savvy?!" Alexander plastered a triumphant smirk on her face and Jacob then interjected.

"Uh! I got this Em. Just open the trunk. Alright?" Jacob scooted over to the luggage cart and started to grab the bags. Alexander watched as him his muscles flexed under the form-fitting t-shirt. The smirk that was on her face told it all, she was interested. Turning her back on Jake, Alexander looks back at Embry.

"Get the door, Embers!" she said sweetly.

"Yes your royal highness." Embry jerked the door open, nearly breaking it off the hinge. "Get in!" She slid into the back of the truck and slammed the door behind her, rocking the jeep. After Jake loaded up the bags, Embry whispered vehemently, "and I have to lie with _that_ for the next two years." Jacob just smiled apologetically, and hopped into the front seat.

The first ten minutes were in silence and then Jacob decided to break it.

"So Miss Alexander Blackfox, where you from? How old are you?" he asked playfully, turning to look at her.

"New York City. But I was originally raised in Venezuela. I'm the same age as you… I believe," she said finally taking off her aviators. "Sixteen, soon to be seventeen in October." Out of one of her bags she fished her glasses case out and switched. Pushing them up the bridge of her nose, Alexander looks up to see Embry looking at her through the mirror and Jake grinning. Her eyes were hazel and gleamed because of the black eyeliner. Jacob whistled.

"Well aren't you a looker?!" he joked.

"Careful, I might take that as you're interested." She smiled genuinely, her Cainine teeth sharper that the rest, then turned to look out the window. "So where are we heading? I tried to ask my mom but everything was all hush hush for some reason. That leads me to believe it's the Boondocks- hopefully."

Jacob laughed, "That's ironic, 'hoping'. You'll see when you get there. You have a Native American last name, you a mixed breed?"

"Okay, 1) don't call me a mixed breed. 2) Native Americans don't exactly have that high of a social standing they're known as pretty poor, from which you see I am not. Which leads me to 3) No. I am not Native American… not fully at least. Most just think I'm Hispanic and I don't bother correct them either. I lived through far too many poor jokes or casino jokes than I care to answer for. Part of that is the reason why I was sent here." She mumbled the last sentence almost in audibly but Jake's hearing caught it.

"That's an insult to us." Jacob said seriously.

"My apologies. I'm not trying to clump you into the stereotype but not everyone loves what he or she is connected to. I have a friend who hates the fact that she's Chinese. At least I've come to terms with mine. And then I'm getting shipped to a reservation on the other side of the country. That just sparked a whole new discussion on how downgraded I'm going to be. Like I give a fuck, maybe this might be the damn secluded time I need." Alexander looks under her eyelashes at Jacob. "All that still came out all wrong. I guess I'll explain when I'm not hungry. Though I should warn you I am not very good at sparing feelings or explaining things. Embers park the car, we're going to that Thai restaurant."

"What Thai restaurant?"

"The one on the corner and across the street, love. What a poor chauffer you are." She grinned as he scowled.

"We don't have money for that." Jacob teased half serious.

"Don't worry, I got enough for the five of us."

"We eat like the five of us."

"I can see that, you're both freakishly tall, muscular, and whatever is in both you're genes, its damn right!" she joked, jumping out the car and dashing across the street without looking. Embry nearly had a heart attack since she barely missed the zooming Hummer.

"Are you insane?!" He snapped, looking down his nose at her.

"No, just 'ain't afraid to die'." Alexander retorted nonchalantly.

Stepping into the restaurant the three of them were promptly seated. The ambience in the restaurant was smooth and warm compared to outside. The waiter came up and smiled at them.

"Hey. I would like one curried calamari with white rice and one Seafood Singapore meifun! Oh yeah and three Thai iced teas!" Alexander exclaimed happily. Embry thought _what a greedy bitch, only getting happy for some food._ Then he smiled. Alexander was kind of cute when she wasn't being a wiseass. Jacob and Embry both ordered two dishes each.

"So you eat a lot, yourself." Embry asked as nice as he could.

"Not really. I figured you two might be hungry." Alexander looked up at him slyly.

"You're a real bitch, you know that." Embry furrowed his brows.

"Man, tell me something I don't know. But the truth is I worked three jobs in between my volunteer work and dance practices in order to get the money I have. My parents don't give me allowance, contrary to your thoughts. They made sure I wasn't spoiled. Therefore how I spend my money and who I spend it with is mine."

"That's a good work philosophy." Jacob said.

"Thank god they don't. You'd milk them till they were dry." Embry retorted.

"Shallow aren't I?" Alexander said digging into the food. "Ittedekimasu!" then started stuffing her face. "Ooishi!" The two boys looked baffled.

"Its Japanese for 'Thank you for this meal.' And then 'Delicious.' Try it, Embers."

"It's Embry. How many times do I have to say it?"

"Try it! Try it!" she chanted, "Jake you try. 'Ee-te-de-key-ma-su!'"

"Eetedekeymasu!" Jacob said proudly and laughed.

"Eeeeeemmmmbbbbeeerrrrsss. Try it! Try it! Try it!"

"Fine fine…" he couldn't help but smile. "Ittedekimasu!" he stated matter of factly.

"Oh yeah! You should learn languages! You're pretty good." She complimented then went back to eating. Things were quiet for the most part until they had all eaten their fill and some of each other's too.

"So you said being part Native American is the reason you're here. Explain as best you can." Jacob continued.

"Long story short I bashed the back of his head in with a steel pole that I yanked out of the ground fueled by my temper. Dude had a concussion for two weeks and skull fracture. He said something derogatory about NA nationality, called me a spick, and a wetback, and the n word and then we got into it. My motto is walk away before someone gets hurt. He didn't want to and then he grabbed my arm. So the end result was his hospitalization. My end result was either juvie or lay low because it's not the first time I'm busted for fighting. Technically I see it as me standing up for all different ethnicities right there, the cops wouldn't see that though. Anyways, the real reason he got his ass kicked is because he talked about my mom. And my mom is super intelligent even though her English isn't that damn great. So I bashed his head."

"It scares me how you say that happily. Its like I'm about to live with an axe murderer." Embry sipped on the Thai iced tea.

"I'm sorry. I'll try to be good to leave your side as soon as possible. Just try to keep my temper in check." Alexander waved for the check. "Meh… I've known people who do worse than me. Which is also why I was sent out here. Change of scenery, you know."

The three got up and left. They drove in the car in silence and Alexander fell asleep. Every now and then Embry or Jacob would glance back at her sleeping form and comment on her. They were riding through the outskirts of La Push when they head a bang in the back.

"What the fuck is this!?!" Alexander slammed her hand against the window again.

"They seriously didn't tell you where you were going, did they…" Jacob trailed off looking slightly worried. Embry began to get a huge Cheshire grin on his face.

"Stop the JEEP! STOP THE FUCKING JEEP!" She yelled. Before Embry could even press on the breaks, Alexander already had the door open. Jacob had to reach back across his seat and grab her before she jumped out. When Embry screeched to a stop did she run out in the middle of the road, standing there, shocked, stunned. It was twilight and there was nothing but forest around her. Alexander spun around like she was insane.

"You've got to be kidding me?! NO! no, no, no, and no!" she rounded on them in fury. "If this is some sort of sick joke that you two concocted while I was sleeping, I'm telling you now its not funny! When I was younger I got lost in the forest and it took them a whole day to find me! Freaked me out something right! The middle of fucking nowhere is not the place I need to be. _**THIS**_ is not funny?! Take me back to Seattle, NOW!" Alexander's fury made her eyes glow in the setting sun and the shadows of the forest.

"Calm down, its not that bad. We've been living here all our lives. Nothing's going to eat you." Jacob knew that was both a truth and a lie. Some of the Cullens are still around, they always attracted trouble, and then there was his pack and Sam's.

"NOTHING TO EAT ME?!" Alexander screeched, "Allow me to explain to you part two of why I am here. I witnessed a murder. Believe it or not I was sent to a psychiatrist because I said I saw a vampire murder a man and drink his blood. Then two more of his buddies showed up with blood still dripping down their chins. I can be a lot of things, a bitch, a complainer, but definitely not a chronic liar. And when I say it was a fucking vampire, I meant it! Everyone thinks its stress and I'm just seeing things when I see him sometimes at night. So sending me to a Podunk town in the backwoods is only presenting him or ANY one of them with a reason to bite. AGAIN!" she shut up and yanked the jeep door open again, and got in. "I can already see you're dragging my ass to La Push, so I might as well go. You guys had better be eaten first, that's all I want to say."

Jacob and Embry exchanged glances and muttered to each other quickly.

"You think we should tell her?" Embry asked doubting.

"No. It could just be a coincidence that she was sent to the safest place that she could be. If it were Forks, the Cullen's would take care of it; on our lands it becomes ours. Don't pry any deeper. Her mother might understand more than she let on." Jacob whispered back.

"HELLO PEOPLE!!! Let's go! It's making me a tad bit uncomfortable being here."

The two got into the car and they left. All were silent even after they went their separate ways.

--nioijkm

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Please Review.


	2. Chapter 2

Embry's life became hectic with the new addition to his home. Now he had to knock before entering the bathroom, had to become the new human alarm clock and teddy bear because Alexander would sometimes sleepwalk into his room, wherever she had to go he had to go and in some cases vice versa, they had to do the laundry and food shopping once a week, any sneaking out at night had to be done by deals and blackmailing. Embry even had to be designated police officer of the urban goth bad girl. By the time the second month of school rolled around Embry was more than happy that Alexander had friends she could kill time with. However there was so much more about her he had to know that she wasn't saying. Like how he and Jacob found out about he being the top of their class removing the current junior from her spot on the Dean's List and that Alexander was already earning college credits because half her classes were advance placements.

Yet he also had to find out things that just didn't add up. The day Seth came back with the file they all choked on their lunches.

"Yo! You would never believe what Ms. Secretary told me today." Seth sat down with his lunch in hand. "Lexie's got another side to her, man. She's only being good and fun now but we've all seen snippets of the dark side."

"What? You boning the new secretary now?" Quil joked.

"Not yet, but getting there. They really shouldn't let a young, fine, slender something like that work with high schoolers, man." Seth said, "Embry you want to hear or not?"

"Yeah yeah. I choose not the hear about your sex life." He said biting into his sandwich.

"WELL! Little Lexie's got a record. She's got a temper that gets her into a lot of trouble. Been busted for underage drinking, smoking, and clubbing. She's not keen on fights because aside from her brute force she's got a combination of moves to go with that." Seth laughed, "Although Alex has never gone to Juvie, just counseling, the last scuffle she got into, landed her here. And in that she also claimed she witnessed a homicide and the man she described is nowhere to be found and the victim, not so recognizable anymore. Everyone thinks she's traumatized by it, that's what made her bash that guys head in because of paranoia, they decided to not send her to the detention center. It was either that, or lay low, preferably outside of the Manhattan. My girl took it like a bat out of hell. However this is just what was explained to the principle by word of mouth. I'm thinking there's more to this than Alexander is explaining and it's got something to do with that Vampire because the entire record of what she's done- gone! Not even the back up. " Seth finished.

"The entire record gone. For a AP student earning college credits and wanting to get a degree in journalism, she sure knows how to make things go her way." Jacob whispered.

"But she's so intelligent and has common sense, why is she doing things like that?" Embry's brows furrowed. He swallowed too much and was choking. He felt a something cold collide with his head.

"Maybe I'm not doing things like that." Alexander sat down across the table from them, next to Quil. "Enjoying story time boys? Want to know whom I'm fucking, too?!" she huffed. "I don't know about you but the way you find out about people is you ask and wait for them to tell you!" She slammed down the can of soda and slid it over to Embry. "You assholes, really piss me off."

"Well you weren't speaking so we had to find out somehow. Everyone here knows you're the new school badass so what's wrong in us finding out." Seth shot back defensively.

"So the Detective speaks. Well I wonder what's going to happen to your little secretary girlfriend, hmm?" Alexander smiled slyly. "Anonymous tip, she's a promiscuous woman. She's not only aiming to bed you Seth, baby. Apparently the science teacher can throw it down just as good, maybe even better. However it would be a shame if she were charged on suspected Statutory rape."

"What about you screwing your good-looking thirty-something year old Korean mentor and counselor?"

"Babes, try again. That hasn't been proven. And I haven't done anything with him. Besides I'm turning 17 in less than a month, even if I were it wouldn't matter, and since I'm not, there is no reason to have this discussion. Added to that. Stop digging into my life or else I will make you talk- ALL of you talk without having to move your lips or making a sound."

"You can be real cool sometimes but today you're real sinister. Sorry to say, but there is nothing to talk about." Seth growled.

"Whoa, this conversation has gone AWOL. Listen, Lexie we're sorry. It's just that you leave so much out. Embry says you sleep walk sometimes and sometimes you say things but never finish them. We're only trying to piece together things to help you." Jacob put his hands up in defense.

"Well how about this, you think I haven't noticed that none of you seem to bat an eye when I mention vampire and murder. And form the way Seth was talking I'd say you guys have encountered a few. So there is more to this than _you_ want to tell me." Alexander pulled something out of her pocket and placed it on the table. "This is from your fan girl Jacob. Be nice to her, since you disregards other people's feelings."

Alexander stood up and turned to leave. Embry noticed she had her book bag going in the opposite direction of class.

"Where you going?"

"Back to the house."

"You're gonna skip?" he started getting annoyed. "After what we just-!"

"I am entitled to skip, heads up Embers but I've already reached the top of the class. I really don't care about attendance. I get here every morning and I leave after it's all done. Go to hell if you think I'm going to sit there and have your presence emanating in the same classroom after what you guys just did." Alexander turned and stalked away leaving everyone uneasy.

"Well I think its safe to say that she's pissed off at you three." Quil mumbled slyly.

"Oh yeah and what makes you so exempt?" Seth growled.

"Heads up little pup, I'm the only one she didn't yell at." Quil grinned

"Well if you're feeling so cheery about it, how about you go ask her if she can forgive us, huh?! Not liking that idea now are you. No one is exempt from that scorn." Embry retorted.

"Fine Fine." Quil mumbled and got up to leave, heading for class.

49187

Embry got home to find an empty house. He groaned out loud. Why did she have to disappear? His mother would be home by seven, an hour earlier than usual and if she wasn't there, he would have to explain why. This girl was becoming a pain in the ass far more than he thought. Embry dropped his bag by the door, kicked off his shoes and went to his room. He threw himself down on the bed out of mental exhaustion. Embry looked out the window at horizon. His house was the closest one to the beach, it was on a hill, near a cliff and the rest was forest. There were neighboring houses nearby but they were as close together as those at the bottom of the hill where Jacob, Sam and most of the others live. Seth was the only one who lived a few houses down.

Rolling over on his back Embry began to think about his day. Which became a routine since the arrival the pitchfork woman. He laughed at himself. The truth was he actually liked Alexander. She was hard working, funny in a sarcastically mean way, intelligent, really sweet… when she was sleeping, and at times really thoughtful of others, even though she sometimes looked upset doing it. The only problem was Alexander's short fuse. That temper of hers really got him sometimes walking on hot coal. Her words are always biting, eyes cutting, gestures cold, and worst of all god so help you if you don't make it right, she will seriously destroy you like the Conqueror Alexander. Sometimes her temper suddenly made you feel completely small.

The thing that he realized about her was that she either always wore gloves of some kind or made no hand to skin contact with anyone else. At first he thought it was just him, but then he realized she did it to everyone. From taking change at a register to a hug from someone. Embry couldn't say that she didn't like being touched because she accepted affection from others in an awkward way. In fact her 'leprosy' obsession was quite the opposite from when she opened mouth. Instead of being blatant about it, like her words cut into you mind, she was subtle about changing her position so that your skin can avoid hers, not the other way around. She gave other's space. And when someone of her friends became sad or angry about something and they wouldn't fess up about it, she would be the most worried even when she didn't say anything. Three months and Embry had to do all the observing to figure out how not to rub her the wrong way. Too bad she wasn't attempting to do the same. After a few minutes Embry fell into a deep sleep not knowing who was watching silently from the shadows.

A few hours later there was a knock on Embry's door. Sleepily he woke up to find Alexander leaning on his doorway. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Embry sat up and threw his legs over the side off the bed.

"Where've you been?" he asked, his voice cracked.

"Dinner's ready." She simply stated. He expression was soft and her eyes watchful.

"How long you been standing there?" he asked.

"Ten, fifteen minutes maybe."

"Oh so you can stand my presence now?" Embry was gearing up for fight.

"Well I was wondering whether I should pound you to death now or later." Alexander had a small smile on her face. "Well the truth is I don't want Aunty to come back and think we've been fighting again." She scratched the back of her head. "its sort of sickening how we argue like a married couple of twenty years." She chuckled and began to walk back down the hall. It was moments like these that Embry felt bad about something he said. Following behind her, he asked once they reached the kitchen:

"Why would that be a bad thing? Us arguing like a married couple of twenty years?" Embry saw Alexander freeze for a second and then resumed putting food on a plate.

"Because for one thing I've only known you for a few months to know that being married to you would only drive me insane. There are so many things I want to do with my life before a make commitment like that. And I am the biggest commitment phobe on this reservation. I'm pretty sure you've heard about all the guys and some girls I've rejected." Alexander the plate on the table, "Seconds you'll have to get yourself. I already ate."

"Yeah." Which was the reason why he never told her about his interest in her growing.

"Besides sometimes I feel like a total idiot when I snap off at you nastily when it's not even your complete fault." She pulled her hood over her head and looked out the kitchen window. Embry knew that as her way of hiding her vulnerability. Whenever Alexander had to open up emotionally about some thing, she would always cover her face.

"What a nice way of apologizing…" Embry said sarcastically.

"Take it or leave it."

"Taking it, all the way because it was wrong of us to have Seth pry into your business and your life. In actuality it was I who asked Seth, not Jacob, so you might want to apologize to them too." He said.

"Better learn to share the love." Alexander grinned and the orange glow of setting sun looked beautiful against her skin.

"You know Embry, part of me wants to continue being a bitch to you and the other half wants to let you in nicely. The problem is trying to find a balance. Like right now, I'm starting to feel a little too close to you and want to say something snide to ruin the mood but whatever. It is what it is."

"Can't you just let someone in. It's a cold and bitter life if you can't trust people." Embry whispered.

"You'll find out when the time is ready." Alexander said facing him. Before he could respond Alexander spoke again. "Ah! Aunty is here! This session has just closed." She smiled and darted into the living room. Embry sat looking at his plate of food in the short minutes it took his mother to reach the door. After taking the first bite, Embry swallowed hard. There were going to be more battles in the near future. When was he going to get an opening?

-kjnyoier-


	3. Chapter 3

-kjnyoier-

Alexander pulled on her black cowboy boots and rushed out the door. Embry was being as impatient as ever. He had promised to drive her to Seattle so she could do some shopping. He was quite annoyed by the fact that she wanted to buy herself new things a week and a half before her birthday. Alexander figured she could drive herself buy Embry didn't trust her to bring his truck back in one piece. Hopping into the front seat she smiled apologetically at him and closed the door.

"You are a real pain woman! You wake up super early to clean the house, waking me up in the process and then rushing me only for me to be dressed, ready, and in the car before you!" Embry scowled. Alexander realized that Embry was only angry because he had a late night out with the boys. Though she never asked him what he did, it certainly couldn't have been fun because every morning after he would wake up cranky.

"Gomen!" she clapped her hand together prayer style a closed her eyes.

"Yeah yeah, you're sorry. I get it." He turned out of the driveway and down the hill. As they were slowly driving by Seth's house, she called out the window to him. The boy bounded out the door and into the back seat in a matter of seconds.

"MORNIN'!!!" Seth yelled, hopping into the back seat. Alexander heard Embry growl.

"What is this scouts outing?"

"Embers, baby, listen I'm sorry but you won't let me drive." Alexander smiled slyly. Embry looked at her quickly and looked back at the road. He knew what she was getting at. _'If you won't let me drive then I'll make you suffer till you relinquish the wheel.' Evil bitch_. Embry smirked at how he always brought this on himself.

"We still have to pick up Sandra, oh and Seth wants to visit Leah. Right, Seth?" Alexander turned in her seat to look at the boy. Embry looked up at the rearview mirror looking at Seth.

"Uh yeah! Leah said she had something she wanted to give me for mom."

"Lame ass excuses. Whatever you guys are planning leave me out of it." Embry stated.

"You know, since you got a lack of sleep last night, I could drive." Alexander offered. Then she pointed to Sandra standing in front the shop. The girl was about 5'2 with long hair braided and curled like Dorothy from the wizard of Oz. Sandra was a small quiet girl who, unbeknownst to the two guys, had a crush on Seth. Sliding into the back seat Sandra was dressed very Bohemian, yet it didn't look sloppy.

The ride to Seattle was long and loud. Between Seth and Alexander, it was jokes to arguments to music. Embry wanted to strangle them all and toss their bodies on a roadside ditch. However he thought better against it because 1) Leah would more than castrate him and 2) even if he did kill Alexander, that evil girl would come back to haunt him for the rest of his life. Once they got to Seattle they went to find Leah. At first the two guys stuck with the girls but soon after they got bored and tired of carrying bags. Leah's cynical self only added duel to the fire for Alexander and Sandra just smiled and laughed. After a few hours and sitting for lunch they decided to figure out what to do next.

"I've got to head to work." Leah said looking at her watch. She got up, collected her bags, and tossed a package into Seth's lap. "Don't forget to give that to mom. I'll crack your skull if you do!" Leah grinned and then left.

"Yeah, I know she'll do it too…" Seth trailed off.

"Ha-ha, Your sister is force to be reckoned with, Seth." Sandra laughed.

"Try living with her." He joked.

"Lets go to the music store next." Alexander suggested. Embry rolled his eyes.

"What's the purpose of buying all the things people could potentially get you for your birthday? You're ruining your own surprises."

"Nope. Everyone already knows what I want. And might I add can't afford by myself. I don't expect it to get it."

"Oh yeah! What's that?" Embry said, trying to hide the excitement in his voice.

"A Hu-!"

"Okay! Time to go! Music store and then where ever the hell else we got to make it quick. Embers here is falling asleep on us." Sandra interjected before Alexander could finish her answer. Seth grinned. The two of them stood up and began to gather the bags.

"Alright. Alright."

The two girls walked behind as the guys led the way to the music store. Seth took the lead until Embry realized that they were taking a different route.

"Dude, this isn't the way to the music store."

"Yes, it is! Shut up!" Seth retorted slightly. Embry quirked a brow.

"Um where are we going?"

"To the music store."

"But this isn't-!"

"I said shut up! You see my good man," Seth started, lowering his voice, "The trick is, to find out what she wants for her birthday, without her having to openly tell you. It makes it that much more special."

"Uh huh. And who said anything about me wanting to make it special?" Embry stuck his hands in his pockets.

"My friend… You don't have to say, we already know." Seth stated, "Oh we should be nearing it. Now walk by nonchalantly like you haven't noticed and wait for it." Seth whistled and then there was the sound of crushing bags. Grinning as Embry the two turned around to see Alexander crushed up against the glass to a pet store.

"Oh. My. God!"

"Oh lord." Sandra said out loud.

Embry backtracked and looked over the girl's head. He shot Seth a glance and then shook his head. Seth nodded with a huge smile on his face.

"Embers… do think your mother would let me have a pet? Unless she's allergic of course!" Alexander rounded on Embry, gripping the front of his shirt. He scoffed at the thought of his mother being allergic to dogs. _She's got one with her already_. Embry watched as the evil witch of the east's face transformed into a genuinely honest, soft expression. He hated to love that facial change. It wasn't the usual serious stolid expression.

"I-I'm not sure." Embry looked up to see Seth's reflection in the glass with his thumbs up, grinning like an idiot. "You want to go inside and look?"

"YES!" Alexander was the first one through the door. Embry hung back with Seth.

"Damn you. You set me up something right."

"Nope, just giving you what you wanted."

"Oh! A broke pocket?" Embry whispered.

"See you're already considering the buy and you don't know how much it is yet." Seth smiled. "Besides, this is your chance."

"What chance? What the hell are you talking about?" Embry began to get a little shifty. He started to walk up to where Alexander and Sandra stood with the husky puppy in hand, when he felt Seth grab him.

"Look. You're only stalling because you know she's going to go running for the city half across the world. Your crush isn't just a crush and you know it. Embry, as nice a guy you are, I've never seen you bend over backwards for any of your previous girlfriends. You look at Alexander the way Sam looked at Leah, before he met Emily, the way Jacob obsessed over Bella. You're not fooling anyone. And she is not going to acknowledge it until you put it out there and in her face. This is your opening." Seth finished and walked over to the girls.

"Oooh I want the one with one brown eye and one blue eye." Alexander cooed.

"It's just like you to pick the messed up one." Seth teased.

"He's not messed up!" Alexander shot back defensively.

"Why male?" Embry asked. "Why not female?"

"Well I don't want anymore competition." She answered totally engrossed in the puppy.

"Competition?" Embry quirked a brow. "Funny, that's what I'm worried about." And Seth jabbed him in the side.

"How much is he?" Alexander asked the Employee.

"1,000." Embry choked and glared at Seth.

"Can I get it for any lower? I want one for my birthday."

"No lower than $800 since it's going to be a gift." The girl said.

"Damn." Alexander's face fell. "Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it." She reluctantly gave back the puppy. "Let's go you guys."

On the ride back Alexander was quiet. She was even falling asleep. Embry watched her from the corner of his eye. Was he really that easy to read? Was that the reason why she tried to push him away so many times? Is this really going to amount to anything? Embry had so many doubts that his frustrations were starting to show in his driving.

When they got home he didn't wake Alexander. Embry took the bags into the house first then came back for her. He lifted her bridal style to her room. The girl was out. It was the first time he had seen her in such a deep sleep. Alexander was a light load for him and easy to maneuver through the small house. Placing her on the bed, Embry proceeded to take off her boots. Looking down at her, Embry lightly pressed his forehead to hers and breathed out.

"I can't believe I'm going to attempt this." He whispered. A few strands of his hair came loose from behind his hair and tickled, the sleeping Alexander's face. As if on reflex her head turned and her body followed not too long after.

Embry chuckled slightly, "Even in your sleep I am met with resistance. Always on the defensive." He stood up and left, closing the door softly behind him. Embry did not notice the trembling form of Alexander when he left, nor when she opened her eyes.

-45678

"After collecting from all of her friends, Jacob, Sam, me… I still only have $400. Meaning where the hell am I going to get the next $400 plus the money to buy the food, bed and whatever else."

"There you go again, bending over backwards." Seth comment.

"Shut up. I'm just making sure she's set. My mother doesn't mind as long as Alexander takes care of it. And you're the one who had the bright idea." Embry responded defensively.

"Yeah but don't you think she'll be the one who will be willing to buy all the other necessities?" Seth said. "I'm no Dr. Love but at least give the girl a chance to get her own."

"Did you check the pounds?" Jacob asked helpfully.

"Some. But none around here has puppies or they don't have one with one blue eye one brown eye or if they do it's a female. Though I don't personally see what the problem is in getting a female."

"Yes you do." The other two said together and laughed.

"Couldn't she have asked for an I-phone or something, damn? Girl got expensive taste." Jacob teased. "Mr. Future Architect here is going to go broke before he can lift himself off the ground."

"Thanks, Jake, thanks." Embry said sarcastically. "How about I just draw her a picture of a husky and then ask her to be my girlfriend. Let's see how far that gets me."

"And you think buying her something you can barely afford is going to win her over? No offense but she's going to take that puppy back ASAP if she get even the inkling that you touched you college fund for that. Alexander may do some reckless stuff but she's not going to accept something outside of your price range." Jacob said.

Embry sighed, "You're right. I wonder if one of the other states have one?"

"Somebody. You got three days till Halloween, which means three days till her birthday, and three days to either find the damn dog or draw one. Don't worry, I'll pose." Seth joked.

"I think you're rather unappealing. Luckily Emily is covering for me these days by having Alexander baby-sit. That gives me enough time to drive around and find this puppy." Embry said.

"Use a telephone, hello?!" Jacob joked. "I dunno about you but I head a pound in northern Oregon has puppies up for sale. Specially ordered 3 months old."

"Are they huskies?" Embry said with hope.

"Only one way to find out." Seth slid the number across the table. "Check it out."

"How long were you guys intending on having me squirm?"

"Until you were about to admit defeat." Jacob smiled.

34123

Embry arrived home Thursday night in the knick of time. It was 11:11pm _make a wish_, he thought to himself. At 12 it would officially become Friday the 31st of Halloween, which would make hiding the puppy only that much easier. The puppy was sleeping in its box with a big bow on top. It was a long endless and direful ride to and back from upstate Oregon. In his subconscious Embry couldn't believe that he went through all this trouble for one girl that may potentially reject him. He shook his head, he couldn't think like that. It would be doomed for failure from the stat if he continued degrading his chances.

As soon as Embry stepped into the room he got hit with a powerful scent. It was sweet, tantalizing but worst of all… Arousing. Embry stared dead ahead. Alexander was leaning out the window at the moon over looking the cliff. Embry froze. There was the box with the puppy in hand. Alexander had not turned around to acknowledge his presence yet. Quietly he backtracked and stuck the box in a nearly hidden corner of the living room and returned to his room.

"Where did you go?" Alexander asked nonchalantly. It was a tone of voice she used when she wasn't really interested in the answer. Embry thought quickly for a moment

"Out with the guys." He was watching her. She was wearing a yellow tank top trimmed with lace and matching underwear. Living together had already gotten them past the formalities. Alexander got used to seeing him half naked and shoeless, and he had gotten use to her lack-there-of of clothing when in the house. Sometimes it would be a hoody and her underwear. Tonight the hoody was thrown on his bed absently. That was when he first noticed the scorpion tattooed to her thigh, its pinchers were reaching up to the V of her body and the stinger curved elegantly over. Embry loved that tattoo but never mentioned his preference to her.

"Right. Which guys? Because I called you twice and you never picked up. I called both Jacob and Seth and got lame ass excuses. You're mom seems to be the only good liar around here."

"Don't call my mother a liar." He said gently. Embry wasn't up for an argument.

"You know what I meant." Alexander whispered, dangling one leg out the window while using the other to keep her balanced from the inside. Embry smiled, he knew that that was about. What a pervert she was… As he looked at her, Embry realized that the light in his room was off and that he could see the moon's glow on Alexander's face. Subtle, pale.

Taking off his shirt he tossed it into the basket across the room. Alexander was watching the movement from the corner of her eye. "Why were looking for me so badly?" He crossed the room to stand behind her, leaning his right shoulder against the wall. He was able to look over her head to see the moon. His arms tingled to reach out and clench her waist, to pull her to him.

"I wanted to see the sunset with you. I always look at the sunset by myself when I have time. But you weren't here, and I couldn't get in touch with you. I don't know why but I felt a sudden urge to.. I dunno, I sound silly. Like some stupid hopeless romantic." Alexander chuckled.

"What wrong with that?" Embry whispered. "I have something to ask you, though."

"Hmm? What's that?"

"Later…"

"How much later?" She sounded suspicious. Alexander cocked her head back and looked up at him. Embry leaned down till he was inches from her face. That's when he noticed she was trembling as though cold. It was an effect he had on her whenever he came to close.

"Much later!" he smiled tantalizing, standing up straight again. "Like when you go to sleep because you have a long day tomorrow. From school to presents to parties. You better enjoy it!" he grinned looking out the window again.

"Embry?" Alexander started.

"Hmm?"

"Can we have sex tonight?" Embry choked on his spit.

"C-c-come again?!" he stuttered in disbelief. _Yes! Oh very much so! _Cried the horny teenage boy in his head.

"Can. We. Have. Sex. Tonight?" Alexander's face was deadpan serious. Her eyes were sharply focused on him, waiting for an answer. Embry knew that Alexander could be pretty blunt sometimes but this was too much.

"I thought you had a crush on Jacob?" he asked trying to cop out.

"I thought I had a crush on Sam." She grinned, "But as it stands I can't have neither. And the look in their eyes tells me they are forever spoken for. Lucky them. I want you Embry."

Embry launched himself off the wall in slight frustration. He had to think rationally. "You're just saying that because it's the week before your period and you get horny. Don't think I haven't noticed your fondness for straddling things." As soon as it came out his mouth Embry turned around to see her expression.

"While that may be right, I believe I want to straddle something human now." She wasn't upset or surprised that he knew about her period.

"Why me?"

"Because you want to do me. I know you do. I'm not asking for any commitments. I just want sex." Alexander hopped off the windowsill and stalked towards him.

Embry's face turned to stone and his heart plummeted to his stomach. "No." It was final, solid. If they were going to do this he wanted it to be right.

"I figured you were going to say that." Alexander stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek. "Welcome back. Let's go have some hot chocolate, buddy. I'm freezing my ass off."

"Maybe you should put some clothes on." Embry asked hopefully but reluctantly.

"Naw, I got my personal space heater." She pulled the hoody over her head and waked into the kitchen.

"Oh look. Its 12:27. Happy Birthday to me. Happy Birthday to me!" she began to sing. Placing the kettle on the stove, Alexander turned to look at a brooding Embry at the table. This was very often common for them. It was always the beginning of a meaningful conversation. She standing and he sitting at the table. If that changed then that would be something ground breaking. Like the time he demanded that she started opening up to someone. Obviously it ended up being him. Added to that the kitchen wasn't close to Embry's mother's room.

"What's the matter, Embers? You look like there is something you want to do or say? I hope what I asked for earlier didn't ruin what you wanted to ask me." Alexander asked cautiously.

"Do you want my birthday present how or later?" Embry asked. He heard the dog shuffling and yapping in the other room. Alexander's eyes gleamed,

"Is that what you wanted to ask me?" he shook his head in response, "Now!" she said quickly. Embry disappeared and reappeared seconds later. He handed a baffled Alexander the box. Embry stood against the wall and watched as Alexander sat down with the box on the table listening to the sounds coming from it. Instantly her face lifted to a huge grin and her eyes began to tear up.

"Oh. My. God! EMBERS!" she yelled and then clamped her hand over her mouth. "Sorry!" she whispered, lifting the puppy out of the box, cradling it in her arm. "I love you for life! Aaaaaaaawwww!!!" Alexander cooed.

"He's 3 months old, has all his shots, but unfortunately he's not a pure breed." Embry smiled but he couldn't help feeling jealous of the dog. The dog licked her face, got cuddled, and even Eskimo kissed, by dog standards.

"I don't mind if he isn't purebred. What's he mixed with?"

"Wolf." Embry couldn't help but grin at the irony.

"COOL!" Alexander exclaimed, "Grow big and strong, kick some ass, right Jack? YEAH!" she laughed. Embry began to make the hot chocolate and continued to observe. By this time both the puppy and its owner were calm and the dog was resting quietly on its owner's arm. Embry placed the cup of hot chocolate on the table.

"Embers, you're the best! From chauffer to confidant in a matter of 3 months! Nice!"

"I can become one other thing too… Now comes the thing I want to ask you." Alexander looked up at his face but did not answer. "Regardless of your response you get to keep the puppy. Wholeheartedly from me to you with all my love and more." Embry paused, but Alexander only furrowed her brow.

Embry kneeled down in front of her to try and be eye level with her. She began to tremble again and he breathed heavily. "Alexander Blackfox, will you be my girlfriend?"

Several expressions fluttered across Alexander's face in a matter of seconds. Not only was she unsure how to reply but also now the trembling became tremors and the puppy began to growl. Her face finally settled on shocked, scared, laughing shakily.

"I-is that all?" Alexander stuttered out.

"Yes. I can see you're falling apart already, so you don't have to give me your answer now. Take a deep breath, calm down, and think rationally."

"But you know I'm not good with things like this Embry." She only ever called him Embry when she was stressed. "I'm not good with commitment… showing my emotions. I only know how to show affection through- I don't know! Embry!" Alexander hissed through her teeth quickly that the words almost didn't seem audible.

"I don't want you to feel pressured. We can work through it if you try. However, I'm not going to pressure you to do something you don't want to. Okay?" Embry finished slowly.

"Okay." Alexander nodded. Placing the puppy back into the box, she shook violently. Embry couldn't understand why that only happened with him. He was beginning to suspect it was more than just a commitment thing. "Embry, please get off your knees. I nearly fainted thinking you were going to propose to me!" she laughed softly.

"Oh! Sorry. I was just trying to make things easier for you to look at me, instead of craning your neck." Embry fumbled standing up clumsily. "Didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Its fine."

"No, its not. Because you're trembling like it's an earthquake." He knitted his brows. "Why does that only happen with me?"

"It's a long story. One I'm not ready to tell yet."

"Is it because I have emotions for you?"

"Yes."

"Are you afraid of me?"

"Something like that."

"Then why did you ask me to have sex with you?"

"Embry, Please!" Alexander hissed, "No need to be so jittery about it. You'll have your answer by the end of today." Alexander breathed out. "In order to explain why I am afraid I would have to start from the things we have not said to each other. Okay." Shakily she stood up and picked up the box with the now sleeping puppy. Alexander stretched as best as she could without touching any part of Embry and kissed him on the cheek goodnight. The tremors came back at full force that Embry was almost expecting her to turn into a werewolf.

"Thank you." She whispered with a glance backwards and disappeared down the hall.

-rgievn

Alexander arrived at school to have a heap of happy birthdays thrown at her. Two of her friends tackled and tickled her to the ground. The locker was completely decorated in all Halloween attire. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until she got to class. As she stepped into class on of the boys called out to her. It was Ray. He sat next to her in her science class and was waving her over.

"Yo! You got another present over here." He said cheerily. "This one seems really expensive."

Alexander dropped her bag next to her desk and looked at the prettily decorated box, the tag hanging with her name written on it. She looked at Ray. "What did you spend? You're whole lifesavings? Whatever it is I'm not accepting."

"Not me. Some secret Admirer. It was there before we all came in."

"What?" Alexander asked in disbelief.

"Whoa! Why are you so shocked? I swear we saw no one enter or leave. It was sitting right there when they unlocked the classroom door and we all came in." Ray looked at her seriously. Alexander turned away from him and cracked the box open. She stared for a few seconds, knowing that Ray was watching her expression. Alexander's face became smooth.

"Are you sure you guys saw no one strange? This morning outside or whatever?" Alexander's breathing became heavy.

"No. Is it that bad of a present?" Ray whispered.

"Ray, please throw this in the garbage can." Alexander whispered only to him. Ray found that her breath smelled really good. His body relaxed and without asking any questions, Ray crossed the room and three the box in the garbage can just as the teacher walked in and began class.

By the time she reached her third class, the box was back on her desk again. Alexander's fury rose up but she quickly swallowed it before anyone could see. _He's playing games with me. Reminding me! Warning me… Don't pay attention to it now. _She thought to herself. In one swift motion Alexander threw the box out the window, hoping that the content inside would shatter and break. People must think she's a real bitch for discarding a present so easily. She didn't care. If they knew the meaning behind it like she did they would do anything to get rid of it too. Through all this Alexander had to give Embry an answer by the end of the day. This was not going to ruin her birthday, She couldn't let it, nor was it going to make her take out her frustration on anyone.

When she reached the cafeteria, Alexander had no appetite. Her friends were sitting at the table with Jacob, Embry, Quil, and Seth. Her presence would make eight. Hopefully her temper wouldn't ruin the mood. Weary she plopped down her bag and sat at the table and let her head fall to the surface.

"Hey, everyone." she mumbled to the table.

"OOookay! Hey, birthday girl!" Seth said and slid a tiny dream catcher across the table. Alexander turned her head to see it and smiled.

"AAAWWW!!! It's cute! Did you make it yourself?" she asked picking it up.

"Yeah!" he breathed, mighty proud of himself. Sandra rested her head on Alexander's shoulder.

"What's got you so annoyed?" she asked.

"You don't even want to know." Alexander mumbled stroking, Sandra's long black hair. "And if I'm not careful it's going to be added to the list of things I haven't told Embry about myself." She smiled in his direction. Slight color came into Embry's face and he looked down at his lunch trying to hide a smile.

"Oh!" Jacob starts, "I have something for you."

"OMG! Please tell me it's not a pink velvet box with a black bow?!" Alexander began to shake.

"NO- no! WHOA! Calm down." Jacob said, handing her a hand bound journal. On the front was a hand painted moon and stars with a landscape and a black wolf. Alexander accepted it and looked at Jacob curiously.

"Don't look at me sister, I already gave you my money to get you that husky. This one's from Sam. He heard you liked to write and since he had to work today, he gave it to me to give to you." Jacob grinned.

Alexander breathed. "I'll be sure to thank him." That's when Embry cleared his throat red faced.

"Um is it safe to assume you don't want this then?" He asked timidly, holding up the box.

"_Where did you find that box?! Where!?"_ her voice was harsh as nails. Quil interjected.

"Hey the janitor found it outside and gave it to me and I gave it to him to give it to you! What's wrong with it? That's a pretty nice mirror." Quil tried to compromise, as two of the girls left the table for class. Seth stood up about to leave.

"What the hell does the janitor do landscaping now?! Huh?" Alexander snapped her hazel eyes flashing.

"un- uh!" Alexander had never snapped at Quil. He was always Switzerland in these kinds of situations.

"You guys don't listen do you?" Seth said, "This chicks been trying to get rid of that box all day. I head Ray talking about it in the hall. Said it showed up before anyone else on her desk, even though the door was locked. Alex told him to toss it out." Seth grabbed his bag, "Later!" and disappeared.

"Yup." Sandra agreed, " Box shows up again in French class, she tosses the shit out the window without a second glance backwards." Sandra takes the box from Embry, who is looking at Alexander with a questioning look. Sandra took the compact out and opens it. It was an old style mirror, slightly fading and antique. The outside was a well-crafted bronze in the form of winding vines, with tiny precious stones inlaid where flowers should be. On the inside top was an engraving of a name. _Amrita Blackfox._

"What's wrong with it?" Sandra asked, turning it over in her hand. "Its beautiful."

"I know it is. Its just that when you look in the mirror you will see something different to me." Alexander grumbled.

"What? you don't like mirrors?" Quil asked curiously. "Don't think you're pretty?"

"Are you kidding?!" Jacob and Embry exclaimed together.

"You need to see this girl get dressed in the morning!" Embry said.

"For anything!" Jacob added.

"Okay. So who's Amrita Blackfox? And why don't you want the mirror?" Quil asked.

"She's my great grandmother. Ran away from her husband of 3 weeks, for another man. And the second part to your question has just been added to the list of things I am not ready to talk about." Alexander finished. Sandra gave her a baffled look and looked at the clock.

"We got to go." She got up but Alexander and the others didn't move.

"You can go ahead, Sandra, I've got something to say to Embry." Sandra looked at the others and shrugged, disappearing through the doors.

"Where I go today, you go and vice versa. I'm feeling a little uncomfortable being by myself. Especially when the party's done and everyone goes home. Who knows maybe even during. I get so lonely around those times, so please, Embry. Stay with me this evening." The last part sounded like she was partly pleading. And Alexander Blackfox, never pleads for anything.

"Fine, but when we go home you're telling me what you can't right now. I'll go with you to the party in Seattle."

"Drag those two along." Alexander demanded.

"What but I was-!"

"Quil, darling you have a life outside of a four year old. Take her trick or treating, whatever it is you do, but the party isn't until eight, I'm not arriving till 9:30. Which means you have more than enough time to play, candy, and tuck her into bed if you so wish." Alexander calculated so well.

"Fine." Quil sulked. Switzerland just went out the window today. Jacob who was turning the box over in his hands spoke.

"The box doesn't have a name on it. Who sent it? It sure smells sweet."

"No, honey, I smell sweet. THAT smells like you've been locked in a room full of burning incense." Jacob's head snapped up at her.

"Yes. I know you can smell it too. From the time Embry removed the box from under the table your noses wrinkled. You see for me, you sometimes smell like the forest, sometimes you smell like grease, sometimes you smell like a wet mutt, then there are times when you smell normal, by showering human standards. I don't know why your scent changes for me but I notice on all of you. List of things _you_ are not telling _me_. I'm a G at this game by the way."

"You're pretty observant."

"Not now dear you're going to be late for class." Alexander picked up the mirror and slid it into her vest pocket. "Toss the damn box in the garbage can." She left for class.

-87654

Alexander lay on the living room floor playing with the puppy. They were having a tug of war when Embry came in and plopped himself down on the couch. He was eating a piece of a birthday cake his mother bought for Alexander. Alex hadn't touched it since she got back to the house but told him he could have if he wanted. Embry suspected she didn't like pineapple filling. He watched her fawn over he knew pet with a happiness and admiration that went unrivaled in anything else. Every now and then she would tease the dog and he would pounce. Jack was his name, Embry remembered.

"Why name him Jack?" he asked.

"I don't know. It was the first thing that came to mind. Like my favorite character Jack Skellington." She grinned goofily up at him. "Sir Jack Skellington of Tinsel Town. Let's take over Christmas Jack!" Alexander joked with the puppy.

"You know they always tell you name your pet something it will remember!" Embry smiled.

"I did. Jack. Jack Sparrow! Jack of all trades, Master of none!" Alexander must be on a role tonight with all the metaphors.

"Master of one! Winning you over in a matter of seconds." Embry joked.

Alexander chuckled and rolled over on the back, the puppy resting gently on her chest. "Maybe not, Maybe so." She put the puppy down and went into the kitchen, taking Embry's plate with her, Jack following close on her heels. Embry could hear the pouring of food into a bowl and then the splashing of water. Minutes later she returned and sat Indian style on the floor in front of him.

"I think now's a better time than any to talk about this because no one else is here. No Jacob, no Quil or Seth or mom or whomever." Alexander paused. There was a staring match between them. Without shifting his gaze Embry was aware of the beat up jeans she was wearing with the hole in the inner thigh and on the knees and the rips on the bottom form walking on them too much, the fitted grey t-shirt that said 'Captain's Wench' with Jack Sparrow face on the front, the head phone hanging around her head playing Disturbed 'Avarice', or the black spot on the corner of her hip that he always meant to ask about, her trembling right in front of him, the wisps of hair clinging to her face, the cut off finger wrist gloves she wore so she wouldn't have to make hand to hand contact with anyone, to the dilating of her eyes and the specks of dust flying around.

"The timing of this is so wrong. I'm not going to make excuses and I'm not asking for more time." Alexander held up her hand before Embry could speak. "What I need from you is patience and trust. Because god so help us if we don't have those two things on our side, then this whole shit will fall through." She looked up at Embry's apprehensive face and laughed.

"God damn, Embers, relax!" she giggled, kneeling now, leaning her weight on his legs.

"Sorry." Embry tried to relax but there was no avail. "It's just that some part of me was hoping that you would ask for some more time. At least that would prepare me for it."

"For what?"

"For This."

"You mean this?" Alexander reached up, threw her arm around the back of Embry's neck, pulling him down into a full tongue-lashing kiss. Her other hand was placed on his cheek. The shocked Embry at first couldn't respond.

"Hey, Embers, help me out a little here." Alexander whispered playfully, her voice shaking. Embry kissed back with full force this time. Knocking Alexander to the floor.

"What about the things we aren't saying to each other?"

"I have a feeling it will come out sooner than later."

"What about you not liking my touch?" Embry gripped her hips tighter. His other hand and legs trying to balance his weight from squashing her.

"I never said I didn't like it. It's just that it's intense, even if its as simple as you being near, and it causes me to do this." Alexander lifted her hand, and it shook so violently that it looked like someone who needed their next fix.

"What do you mean?"

"Your emotions cause me to do this. So when you try to be nice and take my arm, think of it as an electric jolt through my body. Sometimes its too intense for me and in recent weeks they've been compounding. Think about it. Before you acknowledged your feelings for me, did I ever have a problem with you touching me?"

Embry thought about it for a moment. She never trembled around the other guys. Even when Seth tried to make moves on her.

"So you're saying you sensed my emotions before I did?" Alexander nodded at his question. "Why didn't you say anything? React in some way? Will the trembling go away?"

"It is always wise for a person to wander down their own path and develop their own feelings on their own without being influenced by others. I'm not sure if they will go away anytime soon. I need to be comfortable with you first. As in, getting rid of my commitment issues. So when this all hits me like a rock in the head, just be prepared, I'm going to bolt like a bat out of hell."

Embry's facial expression turned frustrated. "So are you accepting or not?"

"Accepting or else your heavy ass would have been WWF-ed by now." Alexander retorted. Embry looked apologetic and lifted some of his weight again.

"You know, I was sure you were going to reject me."

"So was I. That's why I said what I said earlier. When this all hits me like a rock in the head."

"You have no finess at all. You could have at least said I thought wrong."

"Love me or hate me." She whispered. Embry kissed her again and this time he started feeling electric jolts through his body.

"What was that?" he breathed.

"That's just a miniscule feel of what you do to me. Wait till I give you a full blast of it… but of course that can only happen if we're both practically nude…" Alexander trailed off, looking away. She thought about Embry's half naked body and imagined that it would be EPIC. Color came into her cheeks at the thought and Embry rubbed his cheek against hers.

"Was that why you asked me to have sex with you last night?"

"Something like that…" she mumbled, still looking away, watching jack drag a shoe down the hall.

"You are so cute." Embry teased.

"Ugh! Don't call me that! When you start that you can just get off of me." Alexander scowled, crossing her arms the best she could. Embry sat up, upon hearing the tires in the yard.

"Jake's here." He said reluctantly.

"Yeah, yeah." Alexander got up and went to the back of the house.

-

The party was at the bar and grill where Alexander worked and she was on stage with four of her friends from New York. She was slamming on the drums with a precision that was almost inhumane. Another thing Embry didn't know about her. He smiled as he watched on with the rest of the crowd, some of who were head banging and mosh pitting. Every now and then she would sing but Embry could tell she preferred to hide in the back only banging away in her own little world. A world that no one else was invited to for fear of being destroyed by her systematically swinging arms. She seemed happy amongst those she knew before her exile to the reservation. Embry almost became jealous by her freedom, her ability to show others every facet of her personality.

Alexander and her five friends, one guy and four girls drew the most attention in the crowd. Eyes followed them in advertently. Alexander's costume was a sexy raggedy ann. It was a surprise since every time you saw her some part of her outfit was black. She decided to opt out on the stupid wig but he couldn't help have mental fantasies. He wondered if they could role-play when they got back home. Then her shook his head_. I just got a girlfriend and this is not what I should be thinking about… then again… I'll ask her in two weeks_. He ran his fingers through his hair as he followed her with his eyes. Embry's insides melted every time he she glanced his way. When her friends came from New York it was as if hell had unleashed its mischievious demons. Alexander being the cleverest of them all. She was sly, well worded, purposefully graceful, things came naturally when she wanted something simply because that was how she set it up.

Sides of her he had never seen came out, and both sexes seemed to gravitate towards her. Very often Embry found himself overcome with jealously, growling, but each time Alexander would come back to his side as if reassuring him of her faithfulness. He was a bit mind-blown when Alexander introduced her best friend as her ex-girlfriend. All the presents she got was either really artsy and creative, or really expensive and he was pretty sure his present was the most expensive at of all.

There was a moment where Alexander's head snapped up from playing cards at the bar and stared into the mirror. However fro Embry's angle he couldn't see what she was staring at.

"I'm going to the bathroom." She whispered in his ear. Habitually Embry watched the hallway where Alexander disappeared down but 15 minutes passed and there was no Alexander. He asked one her friends to go in and find her. The girl smiled and went but she too did not return for a while. Embry began to get a little nervous. He walked outside to the front to see if he had missed her but he saw no one. His sense of smell told him there was touble nearby but the city was not the place to be shifting into a wolf. Agitated Embry stood on the corner watching the traffic drive by. He heard a hiss from the in his direction as he took a step to cross the street when he felt something strong grasp his wrist, slightly pulling him back. A truck zoomed by blowing its horn at him and Embry was pretty sure he saw something black fly by him.

"Can you help me please?" it was a kid no more than 13.

"Uh,sure." Embry looked at the little boy curiously. The boy was dressed plainly in a T-shirt and jeans, a little too casual for the cold late october air. "What do you need help with?"

"I need to make a phone call but i'm too shy to go find Jin." Jin was Alexander's japanese boss.

Embry looked around again. "Alright i'll take you inside. What's your name?"

"No! I just get really clauster phobic when i see a lot of people. I'm sorry..." the kid trailed off. Embry shifted unevenly.

"You wait here i'll tell Jin where you are. Don't move!" Embry slid back into the door. Halfway through the tables he turns around to see Alexander standing in the spot where the little boy one stood. She was waving and smiling. When she walked in he stared at her.

"Where were you?"

"I told you i went to the bathroom and then i had to run an errand for Jin. Which is what took me so long." she smiled brightly and kissed his hand. Embry sighed, looked around and rolled his eyes. There was definitly something up with this.

"Who was the little boy? where did he go?"

"Oh his name was Alex. He lives close by here. His mother is a bit of a wino so he runs away sometimes when she gets drunk. No worries he just wanted to call his dad."

"Well he should be running around out here at night like that. He'll get sick or worse, killed. Will he be okay?" Embry inquired.

"Yeah. I think so. He only lives a few doors down." Alexander led the way back to her friends as Embry let the conversation drop. After a while Alexander's movements and looks became suggestive. She wanted to leave the party. And by 2 am Jacob, Embry, Sandra, Quil, Alexander and Seth were close to the reservation. Seth, Sandra and Alexander rode with Embry, while Jacob and Quil rode together.

By the time the two dropped off everyone and got back home Embry was itching to ask Alexander about what really happened. He could smell the scent of someone else on her. It was none of her friends either. It wasn't a scent of a woman...

"Hey Alex?" Embry started as Alexander walked out the bathroom.

"Yes?" the look in her face was one of tire. he could tell she just wanted to sleep.

"Nothing, nevermind. good night." She kissed him on the cheek and returned the salutation.

"Good night Embers."


	4. Chapter 4

Quil, Jacob and Sam were about a mile radius from each other as they combed the land. They kept picking up on tracks but they were stale. Anything fresh ended up being human, or a dead human, but human none the less. Things were getting edgy. The pack was getting irritated. These vampires were making loops and weaving in and out, crisscrossing. They were purposefully making sure that the werewolves were thoroughly confused. Well, they were accomplishing it. Now when on patrol the wolves would have to be a distance apart, leaving them a little more vulnerable.

A about an hour after they began patrol, each wolf wrapped up in their own thoughts and diligence, Quil came across a familiar scent. When the thought hit him about who's scent it was Quil sighed mentally. What was that crazy girl doing now? His thoughts went to Jacob whose thoughts then went to Sam. Each dog began to have their own individual theories on it but left it alone. Then again about another twenty minutes in they came across her scent again, this time it was fresh on two out of their three paths. Fresh with the scent of a vampire.

_What the hell…_ thought Jacob, quickening his pace. _Is she insane?!_

_I doubt it…_ Quil responded. _Her path seems to correspond with the path of the vampires. Are they hunting her?_

_Seems to be that way…_Sam mused. _Let's catch up to make sure she's okay._

_I don't smell blood so I'm guessing she's fine. Maybe scaring her a little bit will keep her out of the woods for a while. _Jacob answered.

_She's not that easy to scare…_Sam retorted.

_Maybe… _Jacob panted _Take the lead on this one Sam. You're the big black dog of death after all._

_Very funny…_

The group convened at a clearing between the trees. It was not a meadow but a tangle of roots of the edge of a stream. Alexander was bent beside the bank as though she was looking for something. Her gloved hands dug in to the dirt gently and then clutched a clump of it.

_What is she doing? _Quil wondered. None of the alphas answered but continued to watch her. She was completely oblivious of the fact that they were there, crouching between the trees. Taking the clump of dirt in her hand she washed it in the stream, then held it up. In her hand was a dangling onyx chandelier earring.

"Breadcrumbs, eh?" she said to herself. "Fuckers." Out of her mono-backpack she took a case. Alexander took out the counterpart to the earring and frowned. Sam stepped forward first out of the brush, Jacob flanking his left, Quil to his right. They growled. The movement caught her attention, without looking Alexander leapt from one side of the stream bank to the next. That's when she turned around to look at them. Her eyes went wide as she inhaled sharply. Slowly breathing out through her mouth, Alexander put on her best poker face, but she still clutched the front of her shirt.

"I just knew this was going to be one of those days." Alexander grumbled, releasing her shirt. She stood firmly planted on the boulder and watched a the three stalked her.

_She doesn't seem all that surprised… _Sam said.

_Not scared…_Quil added.

_Poker face idiots, poker face. I bet you anything she is having one of those "oh shit" moments. _Jacob retorted snidely.

Sam bared his teeth at her and she scratched her head.

"You know something... I am really not getting the feeling that you want to kill me." Alexander sighed. "I get it. It's a warning. Fine. Whatever. I wish someone would have warned me about werewolves before they started to fuckin' pop up." She dusted the dirt off of her gloves and then looked at Sam squarely in the face.

Sam sat back on his haunches while the other two continued to act like they were going to pounce.

_Well this is strange._ Jacob wondered

_Certainly_. _Does Embry know about this?_ Sam asked

_I highly doubt it. _Jacob answered honestly.

_Me too._ Quil chimed. _What do we do?_

Sam and Quil looked at Jacob.

_I guess we had better let her go. Can't do much else._

By this time Alexander was already walking away quietly. Jacob barked and Alexander jumped and turned slowly back to them.

"This isn't whatever it seems to be…" she laughed nervously, Pulling her hood over her head. "Just let me be on my way and you yours and we won't have to see each other's faces ever again, if you so wish."

_How ironic… As perceptive as always..._ Jacob drawled. He barked again. Alexander rolled her eyes, turned around and began her descent into the forest, giving an absentminded wave backward.

_Quil, follow her. Make sure she gets back to the edge of the forest safely._

Quil nodded and sloshed through the stream. Quil got a certain distance into the trees before Alexander's scent disappeared again. He looked in every direction including in the trees but there was no Alexander only a solitary black fox in the distance barely noticeable to the eye. He trudged back to Jacob and Sam where both gave him a questioning look.

_Its like she vanished man._ Quil thought, defeated. Sam and Jacob listened but in the distance all they could hear was the uneven padding of animal feet against the terrain.

~-9898234

It was nearing the middle of November when Embry noticed some changes Alexander's routines. Sometimes she would skip work, which was something she used to never do, she spent as much time around people as possible especially after school while waiting on him, or she would space out, staring at something other's couldn't see, or listening to things they couldn't hear. Embry was getting worried. Alexander had become less and less receptive to him. He couldn't understand why the exact opposite affect was happening after they had agreed to enter the relationship. Every day he would bite his tongue and hope it would get better but it was frustrating him. Every time he would try and bring it up she would do something that would make him feel like he was being foolish. Then came the last news he wanted to hear. New vampires had entered the area, and they weren't friends of the Cullens.

From the reports that he was getting it seemed like they were sticking close to the reservation, as though they were looking for something. Some sort of opening. They knew the werewolves were there, they could smell them but they didn't leave. It seemed like they had no intention too, at least not until they got what they were looking for. With the patrols and the false alarms Embry was becoming tired and irritated and now, Alexander was becoming more and more absent. What could possibly make her take this turn? She asked him to trust her, to be patient but now that he needed her, where was she?

Embry angrily ripped out another page from his sketch book. Could you imagine? A seventeen year old boy fawning over a girl that just seemed not to give a damn. Drawing her memorized movements when he meant to draw the beach in front of him or the thoughts in his head. Embry ran his fingers through his tangled hair. Yanking at the rubber band on the end of his hair Embry couldn't help but feel bittersweet about the slight pain he felt in his scalp from yanking at it. Suddenly he felt warm hands touch his own as they untangled his hair quickly. Embry grabbed the wrist of the individual and turned around slowly. He already knew who it was.

"What do you want Alex?" It was more a demand than a question. Embry glowered at her. Under his gave she recoiled slightly in mild surprise, yet his hold was too strong.

"Are you upset over something? You've been really irritated as of late." She asked quietly.

"Am _I_ irritated?" Embry growled, "You make it sound like I shouldn't be."

"I know I've been distant but please just wait a little bit longer." Alexander looked away slightly. Embry clenched his fist.

"What am I to wait on exactly? More things we aren't talking about. Tell me them! Where are you disappearing too?" He jerked her towards him. In his subconscious he knew he shouldn't be doing that. More than likely she would get fed up and hit him. He trembled. Hopefully she would hit him.

"Embry Call…. You are hurting my wrist." Alexander seethed. She was not going to hit him. She was going to take what he had to offer, good or bad, perhaps even ugly. With all the calm he could muster, Embry let go of her, then turned his back to her.

"I'm waiting but I'm getting no results, Alexander." He whispered. "You won't tell me what wrong. You're disappearing and there is someone attacking women out there."

"I'll be fine." She whispered.

"Oh of course the all powerful Alexander the Conqueror will be fine!" he mocked. "Why can't you ever ask others for help? Or just accept their kindness?"

"Just watch out for yourself okay? Please?" Alexander said to him. He did not answer. Embry heard the crunching of her walking away. He turned to see her walking back in the direction of the house. Scooping up his sketchbook he followed her silently about twenty feet behind. Her back seemed slightly hunched, as though she were cold not so much under the weight of the mono-backpack, wind blowing her hair in various directions, walking slower than usual, every step he could see was heavy. He began to feel bad. Really bad. There was something she couldn't tell him, or wasn't ready to tell him.

"Alex." Embry called but she did not answer. "Alex… I'm sorry. I was just frustrated." Again she did not answer. He was aware that he was speaking loud enough for her and half the damn reservation to hear. The walk back home was a good twenty minutes and even when he was standing next to her taking off his shoes at the door she did not acknowledge his presence. How unfair that he should express his frustration and then have apologize for it. Meanwhile Alexander does as she pleases and doesn't explain shit nor does she show her true emotions. He stood in the hallway as she weaved in and out of the rooms. A routine she would do when getting ready for work. By now he was convinced that she wasn't just a waitress but the bartender. By the time she was ready with her coat back on she outstretched her hand for the car key.

"Are you going to talk to me?" Embry asked quietly. The question was more loaded than the simple. Alexander's look was coldly murderous, as she reached for the hook with her motorcycle key. Embry growled, curse her parents for buying her one for her birthday. It would be too cold outside when she was riding back and he didn't want her to get sick. Embry dropped the car keys in her hand and moved as she gestured for him to get out of her way. He felt guilty as he saw the bruise on her wrist but Alexander was back to being the stolid, silent bitch again. She would never complain about pain.

By the time she reached the car door he heard her pause.

"There will come a day Embry when I will see your back again. And it will be for the same reason. The things I am not saying to you, but when they are said…well, lets just say we won't be on well social standing anymore. And if you accept that, then the second time I will see your back will be for something different. Perhaps you were right in mocking me. Good bye." She climbed into the jeep and drove off. Embry had no idea how long he stood in that spot staring at the horizon. What the hell did he just do?

~88888

"You really should talk to her you know." Jacob whispered to Embry, while him, Sam and Quil sat on the porch. Jared and Paul were roped in by their significant others to help in the kitchen. The two packs were together at Sam's house. Collin and Brady were trying to show Alexander how to make a drum. Something that should have been simple enough was taking a very long time because Alexander was no carpenter.

"Trust me I've tried. All I get is cordial responses. Short and to the point." Embry said.

"Did you try apologizing?" Quil asked.

"Of course genius! The problem is did she accept or not. My woman's being cold! She won't even cook for me." Every one of them looked at him.

"You sound like you're married." Sam retorted, "And not even my marriage sounds like that."

"Well why don't you talk to her since you're so insightful." Embry frowned.

"Nope. Your issues. You have to learn to work things out on your own." Sam responded.

"If she would say something then maybe we can. But I have no clue where she disappears too. She won't say why or where? Sometimes it smells like the forest, other times it's the beach, sometimes she smells like she just came from work even on the evenings she doesn't work."

"I think that you should sit her down and say, 'Woman! I demand an answer! Or else we are ending this right now!' And then walk away, you know, give her an ultimatum." Every one turned to the newly arrived Seth.

"Idiot." Said Embry.

"Fool." Retorted Quil.

"Stupid." Sam responded.

"All of the above." Cried Jacob.

"What? I mean she will respond, right." Seth said. The group looked at the trio with the drum. An impatient Alexander now chucked a piece of wood at Brady's head when he laughed at her failed attempt shaving the wood. A piece of wood cracked off where she pressed too hard, now she chucked the unfinished drum at him.

"You're right. She would totally give you a nice 'fuck you' and leave." Seth concluded and they all laughed. Alexander looked over at them self- consciously.

"You know…" Sam started, "I think I know where she is going."

Embry looked at him hopefully.

"I have to say, I really don't think you're going to like it though." Sam paused again.

"How much am I not going to like? Who is he?" Embry started.

"I don't know. But lately my pack's been picking up on her scent a lot in the woods. And usually it's parallel to the vampire trails. Alexander never goes far though. So we're not sure if she's following the vampire trail, or the vampire is following her trail. Because I mean to be honest, those vampire's aren't stupid enough to catch on to her trail knowing that we won't be far behind, but Alexander doesn't seem aware of us at all." He stopped and looked at Embry again.

"Are you saying that she's looking for that kind of trouble?" Embry growled, "She already knows the dangers of being around vampire's, what the hell is she doing?"

"I don't know, but you need to talk to her and find out. Find out fast before she finds what she's looking for or they find what they're looking for."

"Yeah, I'd like to see how that pans out." Embry sank back in his chair.

"I say you enlist the help of Switzerland." Quil offered, he needed to talk to her anyway.

"Do your best, man. Go right on ahead." Embry smiled at him.

~2532432

"You know that he loves and adores you, right?"

Alexander didn't even have to look up from her book to know who was speaking to her. She was on the beach, sitting on a tree trunk by herself. Quil trudged up with Claire in hand.

"If that's your best gimmick to get me to talk to him about things, Switzerland then you got to have more game than that."

"Okay, fine." Quil stated, "Since I am Switzerland anything you say to me will here by not be told to anyone else. So what's bugging you?"

"You're bugging me." Alexander growled.

"Hello! Neutral here! Just talk to me. No judgments." He tried again. He lets go of Claire and she goes running along the beach searching for shells. Quil watches her with a smile on his face, while Alexander watches him.

"He won't have sex with me, not even oral, then he turned his back on me while I was simply trying to talk to him, then he says he's sorry like every fuckin' thing is supposed to be okay. What if I think I'm not the best girlfriend for him? What if things are better this way? What if I'm trying to protect _him?!_" Alexander blurted out, annoyed. "Are you happy? Fucking thrilled? Now leave me alone. Switzerland never asks questions, they never get involved."

"Well it's just that I saw you go into the forest the other day. I got kinda worried because you know with some asshole running around attacking women and all." Quil breezed by catching Claire before she fell into a tide pool.

"If you were so worried, why didn't you come right out and ask me what I was doing there?" Alexander looked condescendingly at Quil as he walked back.

He smirked. "I was hoping you'd volunteer to say since I'm not supposed to ask questions."

"Isn't it a little late for that!" she answered impatiently.

"Well for starters maybe he's trying to wait for you to become comfortable with him and not just throw yourself into sex with him. Embry might just be trying to respect you there. He turned his back to you because that what he felt you were doing or are doing, which ever suits the situation better. Embry apologizes because he thinks and knows he hurt you on some level. You are insane to think you aren't right for him. As long as he cares, what the hell does it matter?! Do you honestly think that there things he doesn't see wrong with you? Of course does but he's taking the entire package. What do you need to protect him from so badly that neither of you can work it out? Its like the two of you are on different wave lengths when it should be simple to get back on track. Show some love, cook for him."

Alexander blinked slowly and turned her whole body to face Quil. "You asshole, you think I haven't already figured all that out! I said I'd be his girlfriend but I never said I was going to be easy and gooshy and shit."

"You remind me so much of Leah." Quil whispered

"Yeah well so does she." Alexander righted herself and then looked back at the book.

"Women! Why don't you just tell him all of this?" Quil answered.

"None of yours or anybody else's business why." Alexander's voice wasn't has hard now.

"Are you afraid of being hurt?"

"Maybe."

"Stupid, you and everyone else on this planet has the same complex. Some just handle it better than others."

"Bullshit. You get all misty eyed when looking at that little girl. Jacob gets all misty eyed when he talks about Renessie, Lassie, Nessie, Betsy- whatever her fuckin' name is, and Sam forgets that everyone else in that room once Emily walks in. Jared and Kin, Paul and Rachel. Tell me about that, why don't you? There is no other look in this world like that. Embry could tell me he cares all he wants too but that… is strange. Especially you- you pedophile." Alexander snapped the book shut and shoved it back into her backpack.

Quil went rigid. "I…" he was trying to keep his voice steady, and prevent himself from shaking.

"You're not a pedophile. I know. I get it. Damn!" Alexander took the words right form his mouth. As if she knew that he was struggling to control himself. "I know you understand what I mean, though."

"Then what is it you want to know?" Quil looked up at her as she stood up.

"Never mind!" Alexander shook her head impatiently. Whatever you guys don't want me to know. Fine. But me- I'm a freak. Far different from any of you… I think…_know..._" She finished.

"Okay then in three days, you meet me after school at my house. We'll go on a little hike. On the condition that you talk to Embry again. If you don't start talking to him like normal, I won't show you what you want to know." Quil concluded staring her dead in the eye. "You think you're a freak but you have no idea. And if you still think so then you have got to show me what you can do better than what I can."

"Done. Bye, bye, Claire!" Alexander waved to the little girl who smiled and waved. "Keep your word!"

"Oh I most certainly will." Alexander smiled at him satisfactorily. He extended his hand and she shook it.


	5. Chapter 5

Embry was woken up to the feel of a weight on top of him. He was so tired after patrol last night that he wasn't sure when she crawled into bed with him. Alexander was straddling him, leaning her head against her hand. Her face was inches from his. He groaned. It was the third day that she had to wake him up in a row. This was really starting to take a toll on him.

"How late are we going to be today?" he whispered closing his eyes again.

"Not sure." She answered him. Embry opened one eye and could see she was dressed in a tank top and boy shorts. He could smell the scent of her shower gel coming off her body.

"You might not be as late as you think. Can we skip today?" Alexander buried her face in his neck. He didn't have to see her expression to know that she was worried about something.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. You ever just get the feeling that it's going to turn out to be one of those days. Like something is going to go wrong?" Alexander whispered.

"Nothing going to go wrong…" This was the last thing he needed. He just wanted a stress free day so he could get back into bed for a nap after school. "Don't worry about it. Everyone will be there for you today. Around people, you'll be fine."

Alexander rolled off of him and curled up on the bed next to him. "You're probably right, go shower." She concluded without looking at him. Embry wrapped his arm around her waist.

"You'll be fine. You're probably like this because of the weather." He then slid out of bed and stretched, "Show time. Mornin' Jack!" he petted the dog.

~----~

"What the hell did you say to her man?" Embry asked. "I did everything but beg and she still wouldn't open up."

"Yeah well, I'm the infamous neutral remember." Quil said dryly. The other guys looked at him.

"Are you kidding me? Dude this morning she woke me up, was dressed and had breakfast cooked by the time I walked out the shower. Usually it's me who is waking her up. Third day in a row. What did you tell her?"

Quil chuckled, and then mumbled to his notebook. "I never said play the happy housewife, Alexander…"

"Are you okay?" Jacob asked him.

"Yup. Fine." Quil answered.

"How much abuse did you take?" Embry finally asked.

"Enough to be called an asshole and then a Pedophile." Quil said somberly. The others looked at him sympathetically.

"Sorry man. That should have been me." Embry responded. "If she only understood."

"Oh! Being the empath that she is I think she understands how much it annoys and hurts." He finished as soon as Alexander and Sandra came up to the table. Once again there was the routine of Alexander plopping her head down on the table.

"Sorry Switz. I got practice today." She mumbled at the table.

"After practice." Quil answered airily.

"Fine." She sighed, exhausted.

"Anything bad happened?" Embry asked.

"yeah- no. not yet. The day isn't over yet. Only the usual run of the mill shit. I forgot we had a chemistry test today. I know I bombed that. Ray was being a total asshole like he has always been since he got word you and I got together. He's being overly bitter about it. Taking it out on me. Today he said something strange. Said someone was looking for me. That I got more admirer's than I can handle. Got paid to tell him a little about me. I brushed it off. Whatever. I accidentally curse in French, while in French class. Hit my bad knee, so it hurts like a bitch now, but I still have to go to practice. We have to dance for the winter solstice." She banged her head against the table. "forgot my presentation for English, didn't full my insomnia pill prescription so I got an hour of sleep last night, too exhausted to care about the world."

"Damn, girl. Maybe you should have stayed home today. You're just a magnet." Jacob joked.

"Just think about the present." Embry said softly taking her hand. She smiled at him. "It will be over before you know it."

-~~-

Practice was as practice always is. Practice. Dance, dance until you're dead tired at 5pm and then go home in the dark. Alexander walked back slowly, with a slight limp. Her knee was giving her a lot of trouble today. And that was always a bad sign. Instead of taking the normal back streets home, she decided to walk along the main road. The one that was a sort of Main Street that wound through the town and then down to the beach. She trudged along, slower than usual, but still serene. Every now and then a car would pass by and someone would wave at her and continue on their path. Humming softly to herself, Alexander tried not to think of the hairs starting to stand on the back of her neck. A cold breeze blew off the water as she rounded the corner where the road bordered the cliffs for about 20 feet or so. She stared straight ahead, instinctively using her peripheral vision to see her surroundings. Should do it? She'd get home a lot faster. No. She answered her own thought as a car rounded the corner again.

There was a shift in the wind, and echo in the trees across the street as they rolled in the wind. Alexander stopped for a moment to let her knee rest, looking over at the ocean. Then something caught her eye but it was too late. By the time she turned to face the attacker he had already enclosed his hands around her neck. Choking her, tightening to strangle, to break her neck. Alexander's eyes grew wide, her mouth open gasping for air. It was a apparent this man was of human strength or else he would have broken her neck already. At first she began to claw at his hands but she was losing fast.

"Don't Struggle." The attacker growled. "It will be over before you know it."

Panic seized Alexander as she tried to move, to shake the man off. He let go with one hand and punched her in the face. She felt the force of the hit on her cheek but she didn't stop to acknowledge it. Alexander stopped struggling and her eyes turned black. Her body began to shake.

"He said you would try that!" the man kneed her in the gut, totally distracting her concentration. As a last resort Alexander's hands flew up to the man's face. She sunk her thumbs into his eyes. She had a firm grip with her left hand and dug in, pulling her finger to the left. The man screeched in pain as he felt her trying to take out his eye. His hands flew up to his face and Alex heaved in a breath.

"Bitch!" He punched her in the head again. This time Alexander grasped the front of his black jacket, rocks her body to the side, knee giving out and then fell back over the guardrail. The two tumbled and slid. The man still attempting to strangle her. They reached the edge of the cliff and tumbled off, the man hit water almost immediately knocking his back and breaking his arm on the rocks beneath the surface.

Alexander was not so lucky. She fell awkwardly. Half her body in the water and her head hit the edge of a blunt boulder. Alexander shivered, gasping, choking, bleeding from the gash on her head. Eyes staring open, she sighs, never seeing, the world gone, mouth hung ajar. Her cell phone, ringing, unanswered in her pocket.

~----~

Quil walked from his house to the store. He waited there for 15 minutes before he called her again. It was 6pm, it didn't take that long to walk from the high school to his house. 20 minutes at the most if you walked slow enough. _Maybe she went home._ Quil called Embry's house and got no answer. He called Embry' cell phone and got voice mail. _Figures. He's probably in la-la land right now._ It kept nagging him that Alexander wasn't picking up. Did she chicken out? No, that didn't seem like her. If Alexander made a promise she stuck it out no matter if she was sick or cripple.

Walking further down the lane, Quil stopped at the crossroads. On a regular everyday basis Alexander would take the back streets like all the other kids. Yet, this was nighttime, and Alexander was responsible enough to take main street where there would be someone who saw her in case something would happen. Quil began to walk along Main Street. He watched as the stores began closing up for the night, and the streetlights flickered. There was an unrest in his belly. He called Jacob.

"Yo!" Jacob answered cheerfully.

"Hey, it's me. Have you seen Alexander?" Quil went straight to the point.

"Um. Not since school, why?" Jacob said, he sounded slightly distracted.

"Are you with Nessie?" Quil asked.

"Uh, yeah. Is it an issue to be with my girl?" Jacob asked impatiently. "Why don't you call Embry."

"He's not picking up."

"Why didn't you call her?"

"She's not picking up."

"Then I don't know what to tell you. Maybe she got caught up in practice. That's happened before."

"Yeah but… I don't know Jake with all the shit that went wrong for her today, I think something is wrong. She did say that her knee wasn't doing well."

"Mmmmm- Nessie- I- uh yeah she did. Try walking to the school then i- ah- don't know what to tell you." Jacob retorted.

"Fine. Bye." Quil said.

"Mhmm." Jacob hung up quickly.

"Asshole. The least you could have done was show some sort of worry." Quil grumbled. Yet, he could understand Jake's distraction. That's what happens when you imprint after all. The rest of the world doesn't matter.

Quil quickened his pace. Something was wrong. Alexander wanted to know too badly about what they were hiding. On the inside Quil's wolf was responding growling. In the distance he could hear the swift footfalls and scent of vampires. Why? Quil broke into a run. He rounded the bend to the cliff and stop in his tracks. He lowers his nose to the guardrail, shivers, shakes and hops over the guardrail and runs to the edge of the cliff, pulling off his clothes at the same time. He madly presses the send button on his cell, hoping secretly, to hear Alexander's ring-tone playing. Ends the call and dials again.

"911, what's your emergency!" the operator answers quickly.

"I need an ambulance on Main Street La Push, by the cliff. Quickly, my friend fell off the cliff!" he speaks quickly.

"Right away! Do not move the body!" the operator responds urgently. He hangs up. Quil thinks about if this were Claire, what would he do. He reaches the edge of the cliff and grips the rock with dear life as he clambers down about 15 feet from where Alexander's body lies.

Quil looks down just as he shifts to see the glassy hazel eyes of Alexander Blackfox staring back at him.

He would protect this body at all costs. He howls to the moon, please let her still be alive.

~----~

Embry growled as his phone rang for the third time. God fuckin damn it! Who the fuck was calling him and What the fuck was so urgent that it couldn't wait till he got at least another hour of sleep. The phone stopped ringing as he picked it up. He rolled over and flicked on the lamp 6:37pm. Two calls from Quil, three from Jake, 4 from his mother. Why was he suddenly on La Push most wanted list today? There was a banging on his front door. Seth yelling at the top of his lungs for him to open the door.

Suddenly something struck Embry as wrong. Quil called twice, but why would he? Wasn't he with Alexander? Jake called three times and he never calls when he's with Nessie. His mother called four times and she never does that unless she is pissed at him. Why would she be pissed? How come Alexander didn't call considering the fuss?

Embry launched himself off the bed with more force than he thought was intended. In a few strides he was at the door, had it unlocked and flung it open.

"WHAT?! What happened?!" Embry yelled.

"Dude, WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?!" Seth shoved Embry.

"What the hell is your problem?!"

"Everyone's been calling you, trying to get through to you, you fuckin idiot!" Seth yelled at him. "Alexander nearly got murdered! Fell off a fuckin cliff and you're here catching up on your beauty rest you fuckin' douche!"

Embry's face faltered. "S-Seth that's nothing to joke about. Even if you're angry with me."

"You think I'm joking? Have you checked your fuckin' voice mails?! Quil went to fuckin' find her when she didn't show up to meet him! He found her bloody beaten damn near bloated and left for dead! Bashed against the rocks! Everyone's at the hospital now! Why the fuck aren't you the first one on the scene?!" Seth snapped at him.

Embry's whole body began to quiver. He reached for the car keys, shoving Seth out of the way.

"You can't drive like that! Let me drive!" Seth offered.

"You fuckin watch me. It'll keep me distracted so I won't change." Embry hopped in the drivers seat and started the Jeep while Seth was getting in the passenger side. All traffic laws held no meaning to him tonight. He was a truly mad man on the road. Twitching and shaking, no shirt on, cursing and swerving, parking on a diagonal in the middle of a no parking entrance. He hopped out without fully putting the jeep in park, forgetting the keys he rushed into the ER where everyone was waiting.

All of their voices sounded in a cacophony of words, accusations, confusion. He ran his fingers through his hair but what brought him back down to earth was his mother. She slapped Embry hard across the face. Embry closed his eyes and reveled in the sting, how numb it felt compared to the ache in his heart the nausea in his belly.

"You promised me you were going to protect her!" his mother hissed. "Embry! She may not be my own daughter but that girl did not deserve have to witness this. How- where- what were you _doing?_"

Embry was shaking violently, his eyes tearing up. Jacob grasped his arm and then his shoulder, Sam took the next side. His mother continued.

"She has bruises, cuts, all on her face and abdomen. A fractured skull… ribs… a broken wrist… They took pictures of her as if she were some kind of cadaver" Embry's mother shook her head, she inhaled slowly. "I know this isn't you're fault. I'm sorry for slapping you."

"It is! I deserve it!" Embry spat out.

"No offense but this isn't time for a pity party." A new voice had intervened. Embry looked up to see Carlisle. Carlisle beckoned for the three to follow him but asked Embry's mother to stay behind. The rode the elevator to the 4th floor, the Intensive Care Unit. Carlisle walked ahead rounded a corner and then opened the door to the room.

"Okay, I think that's about it. We'll contact you if we need anything else, or you contact us if you remember anything else. Thanks, Mr. Atera." The policeman nodded, and left as Carlisle and the three wolves walked in. Quil was already sitting on the couch. He stood up as soon as Embry walked in.

"Embry, I'm sorry-!" Quil started then Embry held up his shaking hand.

"Don't apologize. It wasn't your fault. I'm just glad you got there." Embry finished. He was trying to calm himself, end the shaking. "What happened?"

Quil sighed. "I don't know what happened. I estimated the time it would take from school to my house… no more than 20 minutes. I was waiting at the store for about 15 minutes after that time had passed. I kept thinking to myself something was wrong but I didn't want to jump to conclusions. I called and called but no answer, not from you, not from her, Jake was with Nessie…" Quil swallowed hard, his eyes shifting all around the room. "I… I started to walk down Main, toward the high school. Half way there I started smelling then hearing the sound of vampires approaching. Alexander's scent disappearing into the ridge. Then I smelled blood, lots of it. I look down and she's there in her own pool of blood and water, eyes glassy, staring up at me." Quil covered his face.

"Did you see who did it?" Embry asked as lightly as he could.

"No. I know the scent though. It was a human." Quil whispered. Embry ground his teeth in. He had been hoping it would be an unsuccessful vampire but now that he knew it was a human, he could not exact revenge as he saw fit. When embry thought he was calm enough he went to Alexander's bedside. She was black and blue in the face. Bandages and swollen. There was a tube down her throat that was helping her breath.

"Tell me everything that is wrong with her…" Embry whispered.

Carlisle nodded. "Well.. where to begin…" he mused, "She was certainly beaten, but she fought back. Which was uplifting." Carlisle paused, but Embry just waited. "We had to drain her lungs from the water, which is why the tube is down her throat, to help her breathe. Since the culprit nearly successfully crushed her trachea- or windpipe. Uh, the broken wrist and rib happened when she fell as well as the fractured skull…" Carlisle stopped at looked at Embry.

"Will she be okay?" Embry was holding Alexandra's hand.

"There is some worry about a concussion… she might be in a coma for a while… her lung might collapse. All these things are worries but she is healing." Carlisle said.

"Well we know that." Embry snapped.

"No- she _is_ healing!" Carlisle said. "Lucky thing your mother thought to call me in as her doctor of choice. She's not healing as fast as you or I would but she is certainly healing faster than human standards. Do you know anything about that?"

All the wolves exchanged glances and shook their heads.

"Well, she's over all lucky to be alive."

"How lucky if she can't talk!" Embry snapped, shaking again. "How lucky if she can't walk? How lucky if her brain won't be the same?"

"Patience. We don't know that yet. One other thing I want to ask you is about her knee."

"Yeah, what about her bad knee?"

"Well, the thing is, it isn't just bad. It looks like someone purposefully tried to either dislocate, take off completely or shatter her knee. Anything to keep her from walking because it certainly is not an injury you simply get from dancing. I had to re-break the knee cap and fix it back right. She should be fine but it won't change the fact that she may have pain if she stresses it too much."

Embry looked at Carlisle funny. "Was it the attacker?" Carlisle shook his head.

"This happened before that."

"Why would she do that to herself?" Embry asked.

"I doubt she would. That is a very, very, painful injury to inflict. Now I am asking you. What do you really know about her?"

Sam sniffed. "Apparently not enough!"

"She…" Quil began. "Alexander said to me three days ago that she was a freak. Which was the reason she was meeting me today." He swallowed.

"You were going to show her your powers?!" Sam growled incredulously.

"Yes, but we were going to exchange secrets!" Quil defended. "She wanted to know, and I wanted to reassure her!"

"You idiot?! We have no clue what she is or what she was going to do to you! We have this secrecy for a reason-!" Sam's voice began to raise.

"Hey!" Jacob interjected. "Calm down. Think about it for a moment. It's Alex we're talking about here. Being as observant as she is obviously there would be something odd about us she would see. We're all freaks! So isn't it obvious that she would want a little reassurance first."

Embry growled impatiently. "Can we talk about his some other time? I would much rather be alone with her, thank you."

That was everyone's sign to get the hell out. Carlisle paused before stepping out the door. He lifted Alexander's left hand again.

"Under her fingernails and on her fingers was blood that was not hers. Now the police would be able to get a DNA match from that but with you… there is a faster way. You want to find your culprit? There is someone walking around here without an eye. And with Quil's sense of smell, that shouldn't be too hard a job to find him. I don't condone fighting, but I understand your pain." Carlisle rest Alexander's hand back down on the bed. "Good night, Embry." He closed the door silently behind him.


	6. Chapter 6

~------~rhtdyk89780

Everything in her vision was a blur. She opened her eyes, and immediately Alexander knew that she was alive. Mentally she groaned. This was ridiculous. Lifting her hand slowly, she grasped the tube that went down her throat and gave it a yank. This was the worse form of cottonmouth anybody could possibly have. Alexander choked a little and then groaned. With everything suddenly in focus Alexander looked around. She was in her own private hospital room plugged up to a respirator, stuck up like a pin cushion with morphine pumping through her veins, like she was some sort of science experiment.

Her body felt like lead, almost as if it didn't belong to her and that annoyed her more than anything. She reached under her gown to pull off the heart monitor when a warm hand touched hers. She jumped her heart rate going up slightly

"Don't do that. Carlisle isn't at this hospital to check up on you today. Don't send the world into another panic again four days later."

Alexander swallowed as best as she could. "Aunty?" She croaked.

"You don't even know your own mother's voice?" the woman teased.

"Sorry. Hearing a little impaired." Alexander smiled. "Amelia what are you doing here?"

"Can't you just call me mother?" she teased again. "I've been worried sick about you. I was on the first red-eye flight out here as soon as they called me." Amelia smiled.

Amelia and Alexander looked quite alike. Except Amelia was lighter and shorter and had a sense of grace and elegance about her. Her daughter obviously was not so smooth, Alexander's charm was more like a diamond in the rough.

"Your father is most upset, you know. You just can't seem to go anywhere without attracting trouble. He thinks that perhaps its better you come back to New York."

"I'm not going anywhere. I was close. I-!" Alexander choked, not because she wanted to cry but from her dry throat again. Her mother poured a glass of water and held it up as Alexander drank. "I need a little more time. I can kill him. I know I can and maybe great grandma can see that I accomplished killing that godforsaken plague she left behind!" Alexander was angry.

"I understand that but don't kill yourself in the process. Our family is strong and although our kind can plunge this world into confusion but there are only so much of us left." Amelia cooed.

"I understand that, Ma , but damn it. Things are in the way."

"Embry waits here for you to wake up every afternoon. Sometimes he even sleeps here. I don't think he's in the way. I think that fact that you're trying to remove him is what's messing you up…" Amelia trailed off.

"Mama, since have you been the stickler for romance. All the Blackfox women are doomed for failure on their first attempt at love."

"Then don't be another first." Amelia sighed, stroking her daughter's tangled hair. "I hate seeing you like this but you've set out to do what you're doing with an unfathomable determination."

"Yeah well maybe he should have never killed a good friend of mine. And maybe he should have never destroyed my knee the way he did."

"Revenge is n-!"

"Is a dish best served cold!" Alexander growled slowly pulling herself up to sit.

"And then what comes after revenge?"

"My life! Lovers, travel, kids… shit, mama, I don't know. Just not having to look over my shoulder like the last three generations did." Alexander sighed heavily. "What's today?"

"Monday. It's a little after 2:30. Embry will be here soon." Amelia smirked and Alexander furrowed her eyebrows.

"Don't let him in. Make up an excuse. I don't want to see him."

"I will not do that." Amelia stated shortly. "You're being as ungrateful as ever just because someone sees you in a moment of weakness."

"This isn't weakness, mama. This is crashed and burned!" Alexander exaggerated.

"Whatever. I am not doing it. He told me that you probably wouldn't want to see him when you woke up but I begged to differ. Prove him wrong Lexi, he's been real beat up about his lately."

"Fine, I won't talk. Get Carlisle to discharge me today."

"Whatever but you're seeing him. And you're sure as hell not leaving the hospital today. Maybe Wednesday, but not today." Amelia smiled triumphantly.

"Mama, you're a pain in the ass like the rest of them." Alexander whined. Amelia held up her hand.

"Regardless of what you say, you still need support like everyone else. Everyone had bets on when you would wake up. Carlisle and Embry said in a week. I said three days, looks like mother always knows best. Be silent Embry's coming. I'll go call Carlisle."

"Ma! No!" Alexander began to protest but once again her mother held up her hand. Embry rounded the corner but stood outside the window. The blinds were partially open and Alexander could feel slight anxiety growing in her belly. He was looking down at the floor, there was a crease between his eyebrows, and the beginning of dark spots under his eyes. Alexander's jaw locked as Embry looked up to see her staring at him. Her cheeks filled with color as her eyes widened with embarrassment.

"How cute. My hardcore daughter is blushing with nervousness. To be young again." Amelia teased and Alexander shot her a hard look. Embry ran his fingers through his hair, trying to smoothen it out. Amelia got up and opened the door, beckoning him in as she walked out to call Carlisle. Embry walked in and closed the door behind him.

"Hi…" he said breathlessly, trying to keep the huge grin off his face. Alexander said nothing, but just stared at him. He stuck his hands in his pockets self-consciously.

"Alexander… Lexi, I'm sorry. I wasn't there for you- I-!" the beeping on the heart machine made him look up at her. She gave him a dangerous look, face red.

"Not what you want to hear, huh?" he whispered. "I wonder how come you can't talk." Alexander gave him a feeble shrug.

"I really missed seeing those eyes of yours. And your face isn't swollen anymore." She smirked and beckoned him closer. Embry came up to her side and took her hand. He frowned when his eyes landed on the cast on her broken wrist. Alexander flicked her finger and he looked up at her face again. Passing his hand gently along her jaw line and smoothening out her eyebrows, Embry sighed. Alexander closed her eyes and allowed him to take in his fill. He took a comb out of the bedside drawer and began to slowly untangle her hair.

"You must be jilted in the brain, Alexander, or your body must not be functioning like normal because normally, you would pull away and say you're fine." Embry teased, taking advantage of her injuries. "You're not trembling either." Alexander's eyes fluttered open, he was right. She could feel his emotions perfectly fine, but her usual trembling stopped.

"Does that mean your feelings for me has changed?" The hopelessness in his voice made Alexander's eye twitch. She could tell he spent a greater part of the last four days beating himself up over this. Jerking her head away, a sharp pain shot through her body and she gasped. Damn, her neck was sprained. No wonder why they put the ridiculous brace around it. Embry looked stricken and pained to see her like that. He was trembling now, shaking as though thinking about something that he couldn't stand. He snapped the comb easily.

"That bastard who did this to you is still on the loose. I promise you Alexander, I won't leave you alone!" Embry growled. Alexander rolled her eyes, it was like the gods were laughing at her. She watched Embry questioningly, yet, she couldn't grasp what it was that was sort of freaking her out about him. There was some instinct to move away from him, his rage, his anguish, yet she couldn't go anywhere plugged up to this bed. With as much swiftness as she could muster and collided her cast covered hand to his gut. Alexander dropped her hand immediately and made several faces, all ending with her mouthing curse words with no sounds. Embry's face contorted again.

"I'm sorry! Maybe you are back to normal- somewhat at least. But you've never hit me and reacted like that…" Embry thought for a moment. Alexander rolled her eyes and slid back down into laying position, he sat on the couch across from her. She didn't look at him, he looked at his hands and he began to speak again.

"There are a lot of things slowly coming to light that we need to talk about. Not right now but soon. Despite how frustrated you make me, and no matter how much you try to wall up your emotions and become an ice queen… I want you to know that I still want to be with you." He concluded and opened the door. "I'll let you sleep. See you in a few days."

~__~

By Wednesday, Alexander was back in the house. The usually crowd came to visit and talk to her. She was grateful to them for not having pitiful eyes and sympathetic smiles. Her mother left to go back to New York that same day after making sure she was settled and Carlisle put her under house arrest for another week to make sure she didn't go into any forms of relapse. Alexander was at home- sprawled out on her bed. There was a brace on her knee, because she refused to walk out the hospital in a cast, a brace on her wrist, numb off of painkillers, a bag of marijuana in her next hand as a medical herb her mother left her, and lastly bored to tears. Literally. There was just too much to think about, all on her plate at once. She was in the house alone today, only because everyone came to visit her, all coming in shifts as if to make sure no more damage came to her. Embry should be on his way back from his part time job since he missed so many days already, Aunty was fast asleep in her room and it was only 8pm. Tomorrow and Friday she would be sent to stay with Emily, obviously because no one wanted her alone. Alone was just what she needed though.

Alexander rolled over as best as she could without disrupting her knee. Love, life, lies, and liberty. It all revolved into her life right now. Liberty was scarce though. The painkillers made her drowsy but her mind refused to comply. She was fed up with this game that asshole wanted to play. It was time to kill him and get it over with. Enough with staking out the damn forest. Fuck whatever those werewolves thought. It was time to end this damn cycle of give to get back. Great grandmother Amrita Blackfox was going to own up to her shit and her ex-husband was going to die by Alexander's hand. The napalm she had ordered from her friend was in a small package on the floor. This time, that asshole was going to eat fire, and burn from the inside out, even if that took off Alexander's arm. He was going to go up in flames while still in one piece.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her bedroom door. She didn't look in the general direction because she already know who it was.

"Welcome back."

"Tadaima." They both said at the same time. Alexander's voice hoarse. She hadn't been talking much.

"How have you been feeling?" Embry asked hopefully. Alexander pointed to the prescription bottle of painkillers on her dresser.

"Oh. Nothing at all, I see." He joked feebly.

"You know, it would be much better if you came into the room and at least sat on the floor so that way I can see you better." Alexander whispered. Embry obeyed and sat on the floor next to her bed. "Good boy…" she said stuffing the bag of marijuana under the pillow while playing in his hair with the other hand.

"Have you eaten?" he asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because the painkillers make me nauseous."

"That's why you have to eat. Just in case." Embry started, "I suppose this is not what you want right now. I'm sorry. You never like anyone worrying about you like this."

"Glad someone took notice."

"But it doesn't stop us from worrying." There was a few minutes silence before he spoke again. "…just feel responsible. I could have picked you up."

"Stop babbling." Alexander whispered annoyed.

"No. I was sleeping soundly while you were being half beaten to death, Alexander. It's only right that I feel guilty about it! What kind of boy-!" he was cut off.

"Are you retarded?!" she choked out her voice still hoarse, cracked but harsh. "Or simply a wreck. Give the damn cliff the credit not some sneaky bastard. So I got hit a few times, do you see any bruises? No! Any permanent damage? Not inflicted by him. I'm not saying its fine, but I just want you to understand that I do not blame you. Why should I? Shit happens- mostly to me so don't worry about it. Like Jacob said. I'm a magnet."

"That still doesn't make it right. I couldn't protect you."

"Embry, if you knew everything bad that was going to happen to me in this world would you try to stop it?"

"Yes."

"Idiot! That would only mean you are causing the domino effect of all the other bad things. I don't mind if you want to protect me, I just don't like over berance. Do you understand where I am coming from?" She finished slowly.

"That's the first time you said that you don't mind me wanting to protect you."

"Shut up and stop feeling guilty. Deal!" Alexander demanded gripping his hair. Embry smiled, his girl was somewhat back to normal.

"I understand. I am such a masochist for you." He teased.

"You're cu-razy- I would have told whatever broad that was abusing me to piss off already." Alexander shifted again, changing her body positions.

"But you're not just some broad."

"Whatever, we'll see how you feel about that if we ever get to have sex. I'm tired of using my hand after all." She responded bluntly.

Embry's face colored lightly, but she couldn't see it because her head was turned in the other direction. "That might be soon, I guess."

Alexander whipped her head to face him, then grasped her neck. "What?! It takes a life or death situation to get you to relent to that simple request?" she exaggerated. "If I had known that I would have ordered trouble sooner."

"Please don't."

"A late for that. By the way, you're slightly blushing. By any chance are you a virgin?"

"Perhaps." Embry shifted uneasily.

"By Jove! You are! I've finally met a seventeen-year-old male virgin." Alexander said in mock fascination. "I am going to have _so_ much fun with you."

"Be gentle." He said playfully.

"Like hell." she concluded.


	7. Chapter 7

~--------~

By Sunday, Alexander forced Embry to drive her to Carlisle's house so he could take off the wrist brace and the knee brace. At first there was much argument about it but Alexander would not budge. It was either take the brace off or she would break it off. After proving to Carlisle that she was fine without them by doing various exercises, she then had Embry drive all the way to Port Angles to get Duncan Donuts.

Embry couldn't help but think about Alexander's rapid recovery. He wasn't sure how to bring it up. He watched as she ordered two boxes of munchkins and a scalding hot large latte. Joked about how she was going to get fat but for the most part he remained silent.

"Hey Alexander?" Embry started timidly, when they were close to home.

"Hmm?" she answered, her face dotted with sugar particles as she chewed.

"How come you healed so quickly?" he asked. And she laughed.

"I was waiting on that one. Wouldn't you like to know!" Alexander smiled mysteriously.

"Yes, I would and so does everyone else." Embry swallowed.

"Well, why are you the only one asking?"

"They figured I'd pass it on through word of mouth." He said.

"I see…" Alexander simply said.

"Um. The guys want to show you something today. Is that fine?"

"Sure, sure."

The turned off the main road and up Jacob's drive way. Outside on the step was Sam, Jacob, Quil and Seth. They all murmured a greeting and waved halfheartedly. Seth was the first to rush over and open the car door for Alexander. Stepping out of the jeep, Seth commented.

"Oh? No cripple, today?"

"Nope!"

"Then I guess I shoulda left your car door closed. I guess I get points for being chivalrous to the demon." He joked.

"Shut up, Seth!" Alexander grinned from ear to ear, handing him the second box of munchkins. She looked at Quil who smiled at her dejectedly. Alexander opened her arms to him and he gladly hugged her.

"You guys wanted to show me something." Alexander said, turning to them as a group.

"Everyone wants to see what we had a deal over…" Quil whispered to her.

"Oh…" Alexander seemed slightly distracted. "I forgot about that."

"We'll have to walk a few yards into the forest first, though. You game?" Jacob said, looking at Alexander's knee.

"Sure, sure…" yet still her voice was almost vacant.

"Alexander?" Embry questioned, extending his hand to her. She took it without protest and they all walked into the forest. Alexander still held onto her box of munchkins and her latte. She felt like a little girl being taken into the woods to grandma's house with a picnic basket, except this didn't feel like a picnic. Quil tried to keep things light by making small talk with them but things weren't going as smoothly as he had hoped. There was too much tension. After 15 minutes of walking Jacob stopped and turned around to Embry and Alexander. Who were at the back of the group. Embry had Alexander sit on the trunk of a fallen tree, then stood a few feet away from her.

"Alright, the audience is seated." Alexander smiled playfully. Jacob looked at Quil and he began to talk.

"Okay you recall the conversation we had early last week right?" Quil began and Alexander nodded patiently. "You said you were a freak. Well, before we get to what you are. Let's get to what I am. I'm doing this as I had intended. Everyone else, is just going to follow along. Don't freak out, okay?"

"Promise…" Alexander looked at him and then everyone else curiously. "I didn't get mixed up in any cult shit, did I?"

"A little late to be asking that." Retorted Sam. "Not cult, something else. I get the idea that you already know what it is."

"Right. Switzerland- take it away."

Quil pulled off his shirt and started to unzip his pants. Then Sam began to strip.

"WAIT! NO! NO! My virgin eyes! Please!" Alexander covered her eyes. And they all began to laugh hysterically.

"What the hell are YOU thinking about?" Jacob joked, he was already shirtless.

"I know I go for some kinky shit, but not Sam! PUH_LEASE remained dressed, Sammy-kins I will respect you a WHOLE LOT better!" Alexander stalled.

"Sorry, but what we're about to show you requires us naked." Sam said gruffly.

"Fine. I'll be looking at your eyes the whole time then." Alexander stared at Quil's face when he was completely naked from head to toe, her cheeks turned red.

"Just look at me, Alexander." Quil said to her. She nodded and watched as he began to tremble. He shook violently for about 5 seconds before his snout elongated and fur ripped from his back to the point where he was on all fours. Sam and Jacob followed soon after and then went Seth. Alexander turned to Embry who was looking at her. They all were looking at her. She waved her hand and watched as Embry undressed and then phased.

Alexander took her prescription bottle out of her pocket and held it up.

"Okaaaay… Funny. Its not expired." She paused and mused for a moment, scratching her head. Putting one of the pills in her mouth, Alexander drank from her latte and then made a funny face. She then turned the cup upside down and emptied it.

"I really need to start drinking rum again. This caffeine shit just ain't doing it anymore." A smile broke cross her face and she stared to laugh. Laugh hysterically. She got up and paced back and forth mumbling things to herself. The wolf that was Embry slowly came close to her as she stared at the ground. He moved to nuzzle her hand but she whipped her hand away so quickly that even her body followed as she backed away against a neighboring tree, clutching her hand to her chest.

_Told you!_ Jacob said triumphantly_ poker face._

Quil was the first to change back.

"Alexander..?" Quil called to her. He quickly pulled his pants on, still watching as she trembled. "Hey, Alex. We're still the same. We're not going to hurt you." The others began to change back.

"I'm not worried about being _hurt_! I have high tolerance for pain thank you very much but it's the _shock_!" Alexander growled. Slowly she slumped down to the ground; out of her back pocket she pulled a blunt and silver lighter. She inhaled after lightening it up.

"Since when do you smoke marijuana?" Embry asked quietly.

"Since it is known as a medical herb! There's nothing wrong about it since my mother gave it to me to help with the annoying constant pain in my knee."

"I thought you were fine?" he looked worried again.

"I lied. I lied out my ass! I have so much pain in my knee after that 15-minute walk that my leg was about to give out. I hated that brace so I convinced Carlisle to take it off. Simple." She inhaled again and then exhaled. "I can't believe this shit! Fuck! FUCK! FUUUUUCCCKKK!!! My boyfriend too! Don't you think this was something you were supposed to tell me before we got together?"

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner. We're supposed to keep it a secret." Embry started toward her again but she gave him a warning glance. "Do you not care about me the same way anymore?"

"WHAT?!" Alexander exclaimed. "You're asking that! I wish I could get up and beat you over the head right now! This is the first time I am meeting a pack of werewolves and from my perspective, I am greatly out numbered."

"It wasn't shocking to you when you met Jacob, Quil and I in the forest two weeks ago."

"That's because there was only three. I can out run three, hit nearest civilization you can't cross, take to the sea or sky- you can't follow. Not the issue, here." Alexander said smugly. "How many more are there of you?"

"Jared, Paul, Collin and Brady." Seth answered quickly.

"Figures." She sniffed resting her head on her hand. "Why didn't I catch onto it before? So show of hands, who's waiting for me to bolt?" Seth, Jacob, and Quil raised their hands. "Ha-ha what a major fuckin let down for you."

"What do you mean you can out run us?" Sam asked smugly. "Your knee is still in repair, you're still human."

"Human on what level…" she retorted. "Forgive me. I am not trying to seem like I am changing in my emotions towards you but I will tell you that you guys royally fucked over my plan. I mean I grew up knowing werewolves to be vile, vicious creatures with ill and unpredictable tempers. In the forests of South America they attack villages, act as rebels, kidnap, and kill, whatever. See as you lot are my friends that just totally skewered my view on things. This just screws over my plan unless I can find a loop hole."

"We can help you if you only tell us your secret." Quil answered. Alexander looked up at him. She sighed.

"A deal is a deal." She stretched her neck a little and then smiled. "First let me explain to you something. I wear gloves or I try avoiding skin-to-skin contact with people. It's because I can feels any strong emotions you may have. Which is why I try to leave the room that Sam enters to see Emily, or Kim and Jared, Rachel and Paul, not so much Quil and Claire… ESPECIALLY Jacob after he comes from seeing Lassie-."

"Nessie!" Jacob corrected.

"Whatever. Now here is where things get a little awkward. None of you can keep secrets very well. I've always wondered why I was able to see into your heads easily- so to speak."

"You can read our thoughts?" Seth asked excited.

"Yeah- no. I can only hear your thoughts and see your memories or visions if it's connected to a particularly strong emotion. I then respond by either mimicking your emotions and actions back to you or harboring them and thus waiting until they ware off."

"You some sort of half vampire or something?" Jacob asked.

"Yes and no." Alexander was getting impatient. " I really hate explaining shit can you just listen damn it. My mother is half human and my father is human. So that technically makes me two parts human and one part something else. But getting back to what I was saying before. This also applies to objects and surfaces. Like I know ALL the spots Sam and Emily had a little fun in and I wasn't even trying to find it. Trust me, Sammy-kins I have unintentionally seen you in a loop porno reel." Sam rolled his eyes and growled.

"Is nothing sacred anymore?"

"No! Not while I'm around. I also know who Embry's father is that good for nothing son of a bitch who couldn't own up to his shit." She said and then looked up. "Sorry, stepped out of line a little bit. But in my honest opinion I think you're a better person without him in your life." Embry simply nodded. "The thing I don't get is why I couldn't see that you are werewolves. Sam you seem to take this shit more seriously than the rest. I felt like there was something animalistic but damn. My only theory is that you guys had already come terms with it so it's not on the forefront of your minds but your subconscious. No particular emotion towards it now that it's already ingrained."

"Is that it? Your secret?" Sam sounded frustrated. "I thought there was something else?"

"I said I mimicked, didn't I? There's your first clue. Humans are complex creatures." Alexander's tone was heavier now, darker. "Animals are only a reference."

"What are you trying to say?" Embry tilted his head to the side impatiently. "C'mon Lexi."

"Okay, Seth. X-men enemies! $100 if you can figure out which one I am. I heard someone's birthday is coming up pretty soon; you can buy her something nice. So what do you think I am."

"$100… damn." he rubbed his hands together.

"Uuuummmm…. Female?" Seth asked. Alexander nodded. "Not the scarlet witch… not Astr- wait you said you mimicked. NO WAY!" he pointed at her. "Do it! NOW!"

"The catch is I can only do it with one person. For example, Sam can only think about Emily, so therefore he will only see Emily."

Everyone started to look impatient and confused.

"Hurry up! I got a wife and kid to get back too!" Alexander and Seth locked eyes, Seth nodded.

"You sure you got a wife to go back to?"

"What?!" Sam asked quickly.

Alexander body seemed to blur. Everyone wondered for a moment if there was something wrong with their eyes. When she stood up and looked up at them they all backed away. Sam gazed at her in shock, horror, and anger.

"NO!"

"Sam?" Emily extended her hand to him. "C'mon. We have to get back or else dinner will get cold! I know you guys are really hungry. I baked some pie for desert!" she smiled. The voice, the scars, the height, hair, love in her eyes, warmth, and smell. Everything was Emily. Sam found himself drawn to this apparition. The only thing that kept him firmly grounded in place was the face that she was still wearing Alexander's clothing.

~___

Alexander was on Embry's back as they all trudged back to Jacobs house. There was silence for the most part as they all had things to think about. Sam had nearly strangled Alexander for playing a dirty trick like that and made her promise him that she would never do that again. It took a lot to compose him after being shaken up like that and he wasn't really sure how he felt about Alexander's abilities. To think that there was an ability like that that existed in the world could certainly cause a lot of trouble and trust issues amongst people.

By the time the group reached back to the garage, the rarely seen sun was beginning to set and the boys were hungry. Alexander buried her face in Embry's hair, unsure of what to do.

"It's okay if you guys don't want to associate yourselves with me anymore." She whispered. "I'll be fine. I'm used to it. I'll just finish what I need to do and leave, quickly. There will be no mess for you to clean up."

Every one of them heard her and stopped. Embry released his arms, and Alexander fell to the ground. With her bangs covering her face she didn't make a sound nor could they see her expression. She was hiding but her voice betrayed her stolid façade. Getting up, Alexander turned her back to them and began to limp back the way they came.

"What is your _problem?!_" Embry says, a lot more hostile than intended. Alexander stops but she doesn't face him. "You are maddening to deal with, you know! One second you look like you're fine and you act like you're fine but now this."

"I _AM _Fine!" Alexander retorted. "You think I can only turn into Emily! I've turned into you! Now fancy that! Imagine how much confusion and damage I can do to all the relationships on this reservation- the trouble I can cause. Sam' pretty pissed off, he doesn't know how to respond to me. The rest of you are musing like it's a god forsaken funeral."

"No one is judging you!" Embry shouts. "You're judging yourself! It is almost as if you expect everyone to hate you because you're different. You think I'm going to start having an inferiority complex just because you can change from person to person?! Wake up, Alexander, I can vouch for everyone when I say that no one here hates you because of what you are. We'd be some real hypocrites!"

"Why are NONE of you asking the questions that are sitting on the tip of your tongues? THAT is that bothers me. Love me or Hate me! That's what I think but say what you have to."

"Alright," Sam shoved his way in front of Embry. "Who else have you changed into?"

"No one else. Why should I? I gain nothing from becoming you. And its not a change, its an illusion. I 'changed' into Embry a few times to save his sorry ass from his mother's almighty wraith when he's running with you fools." Alexander stated.

"What do you really look like?"

"Not blue skin with scales and ochre eyes I can tell you that much. I look just as I am now."

"How old are you? Why are you really here?"

Alexander hesitated, her eyes flickering to Embry. "I am 22, same age as you, Sam." She said slowly. "I'm here because my great-grandmother failed to kill her vampire husband- Christopher- of three weeks. She set the house on fire and left with someone else but he survived… and has been plaguing me since he realized who I was. He murdered my good friend in front of me, broke my knee to torture me, and let's just say he still wants to see how much more he can make me suffer…"

They all looked at her in shock. Jacob whistled and Embry passed his hand over his face slowly in disbelief.

"This is some weird shit." Seth said. "Its not fair that Embry gets the hot older chick. What the fuck are you still doing in high school?"

"I'm not, honestly. I completed high school but that was under my father's name. I'm honestly in my junior year of college, this is really slowing me down. The younger I am here the easier it is for me to stay longer in order to kill the bastard… or at least until he kills me."

"No one's going to kill you as long as we're here." Embry growled.

"That's just it. I wasn't planning on this. I came to a place where I knew no one and no one knew about me. So if I died- boo hoo- tragic accident. If I succeeded I could make up some excuse to leave. But then came the relationship with you, then came the pack. I can already see the snowball effect happening. This is ridiculous. Forget it!" Alexander through up her hands in defeat.

"Why did your great-grandmother decided to marry him in the first place?" Sam asked.

"It's not like that. Blackfox women come from a strong tribe that traces its lineage through the female. At the age of 16 we get to pick our first husbands but the trick to that is all the males have to agree on it. In this instance my great-grandmother was a cop out because there was vampire who was attacking people. This vampire- Christopher- had been stalking my great-grandmother for whatever reasons. The family offered her to him in order to hopefully- I don't know- make a treaty or something. He was very sadistic, very careful not to change her, careful not inflict too much noticeable damage on her, and lastly careful not to give the werewolf that had imprinted on and that Amrita loved a reason to kill him."

"Oh boy, werewolf, vampire love. Jake's an expert on this one." Seth rolled his eyes.

"Well long and short is Amrita invited two women to the house. While her dear husband was feeding on them, distracted, she set the place alight and made off of the back of her werewolf lover. Christopher has searched many years for my family line. And one stupid mistake from my friend and I on the wrong damn night, wrong damn place and time. The End."

"And you were going to give up to a bastard who like torturing women?" Sam hissed.

"Not yet. I decided to napalm his ass while he was still alive. Make him feel some pain while he incinerates, but in order to do that I would have to play victim and I can't play victim if we have a bunch of werewolves running around making sure the perimeter is safe guarded. I was wondering why he kept trying to lure me off the reservation. I only smelled wolves but not werewolves, jeeze." Alexander huffed. "Now I have to totally rethink my plan."

"You think…" Embry began, shaking. "that after what happened to you last week… that I was going to let you play _victim_!!!" he spat out the last word.

"See you weren't supposed to know. And that guy last week was just doped up on V. Other than that I would have been able to take him down just fine."

"'V'?" Sam asked.

"Yeah… what are you guys doing? Living under a rock? V, vampire blood. You snort it, drink it, suck it, and slap it to your skin like a patch. Bottom line is you get high. Humans get an increase in libido and increase in strength in all senses and muscles. That guy who attacked me last week may be human but had an insane amount of strength that was enough to knock the wind out of someone as freakish as me. My guess is he got the order to shake me up, hurt me a little, scare me a little because he was forewarned about my abilities." She concluded.

"Now vampire's are peddling their blood?" Sam uttered in disbelief.

"Hell no! It's not as simple as that but whatever. That's another conversation for another time."

"You're not killing yourself to exact revenge on anyone for anyone." Sam snapped.

"I had to watch you damn near bleed to death and that is not a sight I would like to see again." Quil added.

"Girl you got some serious issues and I thought we were fully loaded with that." Jacob grinned. "But it's all good. Say the magic word and we are here to help."

"No! NO!" Alexander stated firmly. "My Kind hold down their own at all costs! When we strike out on our own it's either we're running from trouble or running to it. Everything is strictly business to protect all the others like me from being discovered! That includes you guys, as primitive as your shape-shifting skills may be!"

"We don't care what you say! We're helping you! I will protect you!" Embry concluded firmly for there to be no more argument.

"Do what the man says." Jacob smiled. "He cares about you regardless of you flaws."

"Oh fuck this! You guys don't seem to be getting it!" Alexander growled. She moved swiftly over to Seth, caught him behind the neck and kissed him. A thin almost transparent mauve mist began to leave his body and surround Alexander. Eventually Seth was on his knees, body shivering, arms limp, and eyes blank.

"What did you just do to him?" Jacob looked stricken as Alexander lifted her head and she was holding a seemingly unconscious Seth in her arms.

"What I have been neglecting to do." Alexander's lips curled into a mischievous smirk. She licked her lips and rolled her eyes. "If you boys haven't figured it out by now then you are surely idiots. I don't just have one secret. And when I told Quil I was a freak I meant it on several levels." Her eyes were glowing, hypnotizing, there were flecks of amethyst in her eyes.

"You're a succubus." Embry glanced at the ground. He was starting to feel like a fool for not noticing.

"I'm glad you caught on."

"But if you are, why aren't your wounds healing quickly? Better yet why was that guy able to hurt you?" Quil asked quickly.

"Because I like complained to you Quil, I AM NOT GETTING LAID! I need it! We become weak and almost human until we wither away! I've been good. I've been patient. But I am at my limits. I almost didn't stop with Seth. I want more. I feel the adrenalin running through my veins." The way she spoke was almost like an addict now getting their fix. It was the first time any of them had heard her whine almost screeching. "Think about it. I smell good, don't I? Enticing, mouth watering… you think its just hormones, you think when you have frequent wet dreams its just you being horny… Sam's sex with his wife has increased, Jacob is fooling around with Reneese more! Embry's always tired after I slept next to him! Seth screwing to his fill because he knows he's free to do it. You think its all a coincidence! Be real!"

"NESSIE!" Jacob growled.

"Why kiss Seth instead of me?" Embry tried to keep his shaking to a minimum.

"Because he already knew what I was! Edward told him! Why do you think I've been avoiding the little get-togethers you guys like to have. I knew about the vampires but not about you! Edward probably picked up my scent from off of Seth. Seth confronted me about it and so I show him things, help him." Alexander hissed. Seth was now waking up. "You need to rest," she cooed softly in his ear. "I took more than I intended from you."

"Whatever you say or do we are helping you. This is just as much your problem as it is ours." Jacob said taking Seth out of Alexander's arms. He trudged over to the back of Embry's truck and helped the boy in.

"Time for dinner. I'm going home. Come back to me when you have a better plan that doesn't involve getting yourself killed out of desperation. Or slowly killing yourself at all." Sam trudged away, hands in his pockets. They all dispersed. Embry then threw a reluctant Alexander over his shoulder to the car.

The short ride how was in silence. Alexander kept her mouth shut and Embry made no move to change that. She was pretty sure he was pissed. Reassessing everything she had ever told him. He dropped Seth home giving him direct orders to sleep his fill and then left. When they got back to the house Embry did everything more out of habit than thought. He opened her jeep door, lifted her out and kicked it shut. Alexander unlocked the door and he rested her down in the hallway. She stood silently by the door watching him as he kicked off his shoes, and went into the kitchen. Listening silently as the fridge opened and shut then the cupboard opened and closed the clinking of a glass and sound of liquid being poured into it. He made his was back into the hall and crossed into the living room. Alexander looked around and realized that Jack wasn't there; apparently Aunty took him out today. It felt lonely all of a sudden, there was a moment where she felt relieved that they all knew about her but now her world felt lonely.

Alexander unconsciously gripped the roots of her hair. Slowly she slid down the door to the floor. No- not again. Why did it always happen like this? She wanted to cry, to hold herself but she had to hold herself together before Embry noticed her falling apart. Squeezing her eyes shut, Alexander focused on her breathing and then opened her eyes. Her heart pounded rapidly as her eyes landed on Embry leaning against the opening wall to the living room. How long had he been standing there? How much did he see?

Alexander's sharp stolid mask slipped back into place.

"What's your favorite color?" Embry asked simply. That baffled Alexander and she just blinked at him for a moment.

"Umm… black."

"No it isn't." Embry said to her, sipping from his glass. "I realize why I like you Alexander. Nothing about you is handed to me on a platter. You're like a complicated puzzle that frustrates me, saddens me and makes me happy and then proud all at once." He looked at her in the eyes.

"What does this have to do with my favorite color? Who are you to tell me what my favorite color is?" She said sliding her eyes away.

"To everyone else its black. That's what you expect them to say. That's what you expect me to say because you figured I would infer that your favorite color is black. It's the reputation you keep up. But I realize with you, it's the tiny things that seem insignificant that matter. It's actually yellow."

Alexander's jaw lock, she crossed her arms and shot him an annoyed look.

"And that usually means that you're annoyed by the potential vulnerability. It almost gets under your skin that I can figure out little things like that. You hide because you have to, just like we hide because we have to. Yet the more places you go you can't get out of the fact that you're afraid to be lonely. Not afraid to be alone."

"Yeah? And what the fuck makes you so sure, wolf boy? You think because you know my favorite color suddenly you know everything?"

"Not everything. You got sad when you thought that we were going to think you untrustworthy, your whole make up a lie. How long have you been 22?"

"22 years."

Embry nodded.

"Look, if you're going to break up with me say it already so we can get past this brooding bullshit. I know what you're getting at, you know me, alright, I get it. I don't need the lecture."

Embry smiled, "Why would I do that? I know you're not playing games with me because just now you nearly crumbled thinking that I didn't trust you anymore or that my feelings for you changed on top of your most obvious lack of strength because you haven't 'fed'."

"You are getting mighty full of yourself, little boy. It's getting on my nerves." Alexander growled as she got up to walk away.

"And then your condescending demeanor arises when I'm telling you the god honest truth about yourself." Embry took her wrist delicately before she could walk away completely. "You wouldn't be able to respond this way if you were faking it. Because what would be the purpose o faking it if your secrets are already out?"

Alexander looked everywhere but at him. Secretly she was glad that someone bothered to pay attention to her but damn it could get annoying.

"Don't you think this a little strange?" she began, still not looking at him. "I'm a 22 year old succubus, dating a 17 year old wolf boy. I don't know. I just feel like some sort of Nanny." Alexander laughed. "I'd have to say in the past few months it's been the other way around though."

"More or less… but do you see what I'm getting at?" Embry said. "I can't believe it took me this long to realize you had a weakness complex. Acting like you need no one but afraid to be lonely."

Alexander yanked her wrist from his hand. "That's doesn't mean I am staying! If I do recall that you still need to Imprint. Even if we do continue this how long do you think its really going to last? I refuse to get locked into Binding to get hurt."

"Binding? Is that like Imprinting?"

"Yes, it is. Except we choose the mate and we bind kind of like a magical contract." Alexander thought for a moment. "Just forget it, Embry. Don't fight for it."

"I refuse to let you walk away from this!" Embry was shaking now. "After all that you don't want to try? You were the one who kept talking about all the things we haven't said to each other now they've been said you don't want to fight for this!?" His voice was rising. "Stop only thinking of yourself god damn it! Don't be so selfish."

"Maybe you're right, but I really like you and I'm walking away before I get hurt because of that." Alexander moved to walk away but Embry caught her again. He kissed her, placing one hand on he back of her head and the other around her waist. The kiss was hard; all his emotion of frustration, passion, love, pleading, and fear went into it. Alexander found herself melting into it; she grasped the front of his shirt tighter than she wanted too. They broke off and Embry pressed his forehead against hers.

"Don't Alexander. Please. You're the only think that makes me feel that just maybe I'm not bound here because of a pack. You're the only thing that makes me feel like there is more to my life than the wolf inside of me. I see your free spirit and the things that you do on your own without a glance backward. It makes me think that you are in the distance I am stuck in one spot." He whispered to her.

"How can a be the rock for you when I'm the one once secretly pathetically clinging to you for emotional support… I will move on from here and so will you. You just have to believe that. You are your own wolf, your own person." She whispered back. "In truth I used to think of relationships as a ball and chain and then I would run in the opposite direction. But I don't see you as that. Never have but don't pin your hopes on me."

Embry kissed her again.

"You're a lot stronger than I gave you credit for. Now stop putting up with my shit." Alexander smiled wryly at him.

"Sooooo can I make out with you now? Since I know how you really feel about me." Embry grinned childishly. She tapped him playfully on the head.

"Idiot. I'll eat you alive."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:The college semester for me is almost done so there will be more updates! YAY!**

Alexander laid on the beach with her book over her eyes listening to the sound of the waves. The sun was now rising and to many people walking past it would seem that she was snoozing lightly. It was the Monday morning she was to return to school. That was what she was doing until she head sound of approaching footsteps. She didn't move because from the sound of the uneven gait it sounded like people she knew, the wolf pack to be specific.

"What did I do this time?" she mumbled under her book not bothering to look at them.

It was Jacob who spoke first, "Well, you see, Seth sort of told us everything and-."

"Told you _what_, exactly?" Alexander emphasized. She could tell by scent Seth was sitting there fidgeting. Embry had his head on her shoulder, laying next to her.

"That you entered a contract with him. I would think it would be in his best interest if you break it off." Jacob tried to ask nicely, "Or at least before Leah hears about it."

Alexander's body began to shiver violently, then stopped after a seconds and then started again. Sarcastically slow she removed the book from off her face and looked down her nose at Jacob!

"BREAK A CONTRACT!!!" She laughed in his face. "How naïve! You wolves are cute! Honestly!"

"Please?" Jacob asked.

"Seth, what did you tell them?" Alexander chuckled.

"That the night you paid me a visit in my dreams I was tired and annoyed. I told you about my weariness of my life and you said to me that there was a way to relieve it. Alex, I was trying to explain to them that you are giving me everything that I want. I get money to help my mother, Leah gets some help with her life in Seattle, and I get to be my own man, ladies man!"

"See!" Jacob starts, "You brainwashed him! He's selling himself! What kind of example are you that he's become a male prostitute? Alex, please?" he was serious.

Alexander shrieked with laughter. "First of all. I am a demon. A demon of lust to be exact. I don't know what ideas you have about me, and petty little notions of humanity. Demons, don't choose their patrons, the patrons choose the demon. Seth just ever so happened to choose me because I fell into his lap. And to be honest the way things in the contract work is that I do something for him and he does something for me. To break that, as you so want, would mean death to the patron and agony to the demon. Now, Jacob Black, now that you clear about what I am and the contract that was possibly made, do you still wish me to break it?" Alexander had smug smirk on her face almost evil.

Jacob's face was conflicted. He looked at Embry who looked away. "I feel like its in the best interest of Seth."

"I don't need saving!" Seth snapped. "I'm not some little boy!"

"You have no fucking clue what you're saying! You swore yourself to someone you barely knew."

"Yeah! But she done more good than harm!" Seth demanded.

"She said patron…" Embry mused.

"What?" snapped Jacob, now looking at him.

"Patron? Why use the term patron? Shouldn't it be client? What is Seth giving you? And you said possibly made. Does that mean…"

Alexander wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and buried her face into his hair. She looked playfully from behind his head at Seth and responded, "N-A-D-A!"

Embry breathed. "That's what I thought. Seth… you don't have a contract with Alexander."

"What! That's impossible! That next night you came back! We had a deal! You began to teach me things… You burned a pattern into my skin as proof, a tattoo! You mean I went trough that pain for nothing!" Seth said desperately.

"Yes I did. But allow me to explain. On my left leg I have a tattoo of a scorpion, on my right hip I have the tattoo of a black fox, on the back of my neck I have tattoo and burn scar in the shape of a lock. Where ever my patron chooses to be branded that is it. Hidden in all of those tattoos is a little contract circle. I have fulfilled two out of my three contracts. I failed to protect the last. So there for the burn mark on my neck with forever blister and burn until I fulfill my contract. I branded you on your chest." Alexander opened her coat and then her shirt. "Ta-fucking-da babes. I didn't get branded in the process. I left that there for when you get a little older, I can take my damn dues."

Seth scowled. "That was mean."

"MEN! Such ungrateful cretins!" Alexander huffed, "I give you sex education classes for free and you get to keep your life and I was _mean_!" her hand glowed purple. "If that's the way you feel then lets make this shit official!"

Seth shrunk back because her expression was utterly scary. Embry and Jacob tackled her.

"Whoa! Hold on there little miss!" Jacob joked. "Seth was just kidding you know! He's grateful. He didn't mean to hurt your pride!"

Alexander sighed. "I was kidding! You don't have to treat me like a threat to society." She sat up, stretched and yawned. She picked up her book and stood up, then chucked the book at Seth's head, which he caught deftly.

"Whhaat?"

"I didn't teach you things so you can go sell yourself! What the hell man! You want me to revoke your privileges!?" she yelled at him.

"What you expect to teach me how to **bleep** and **bleep** and not make some money off of that! Come on! $500 an hour! Added to the 200 they are already paying me to be an escort!"

"You know for a beginner 500 isn't that bad!" Alexander said more to herself in pride than to him.

"Alex!" Embry and Jacob exclaimed.

"Alright, Alright. Seth, hike up your price ask for 850-."

"ALEX!" Jacob said.

"Would you just listen and hear me out! Daaaammmnn! You guys are so bad for business!" Alexander whined. "All I'm saying is people will think three times when the realize they need to pay next month's rent."

"Then less people would want to have sex with me..." Seth almost sounded reluctant.

"Yes, Seth. This isn't only about you. Those people could go to jail for that and so can you because technically you aren't supposed to be doing that. That wasn't the reason why I decided to teach you what I did." Alexander said.

"It's not like you give a shit." He mumbled.

She shrugged and began to walk away up the beach. "True I should take me cut, right now and have you work for me. But its whatever." She sounded almost irritated.

Embry followed after Alexander with an apologetic backward glance.

"C'mon Seth. We're going to be late for class."

"It's whatever." Seth retorted.

--

It was her last class. Much of the day had passed without flaw but she couldn't help shake the feeling that something was going to mess this rarely uneventful day up. And it wasn't pure intuition this time either; Ray kept looking her way with this smug smirk on his face. Alexander ignored him for the most part at least up until now.

Ray plunked his bookbag down on the lab counter next to Alexander. She wondered what his problem was that he felt the need to corrupt her day. Once again she busied herself with the lab.

"We need to talk about something…" he begins midway through.

"Um… no." Alexander concludes on the spot. Shifting the sand in the metal container. She was biding her time, curious as to what he had to say.

"Yeah we do, you smug-!" Ray sneered.

"Please. No name-calling. I'm not taking the bait on my first day back." She knew he would continue. "Why do you really hate me so much anyway? Being jealous of Embry just doesn't seem to suffice."

"Fuck you! That's why your ass got beat! And where was your big oaf of a boyfriend then?" Ray goaded. Alexander simply shrugged, her concentration shifted to the gas valve for the burner.

Ray continued. "I think you got what you deserved. You remember what you said to me when I first told you how I felt about you? You said that I couldn't afford you. In fact no one here could. The price of you was worth 5 of my meager life times!" he hissed

"Damn… Did I really say that?" Alexander looked at him and tilted her head to the side. "That's rough. It was just an attitude at my luck. Don't worry much about it. Let it go already." She shrugged turning back to the gas.

"Oh yeah. You know what. That guy paid me $300 just to tell him your schedule, your living quarters, and your hangouts. I watched you for a while to know it by heart." Ray grasped a fist full of her hair and yanked Alexander's ear closer. "You came here with this attitude and a self-proclaimed reputation of a rebel. Yet all I've seen so far is just talk, where's that so called temper of yours?" Ray whispered into her ear.

All functions stopped on her after that. She was only aware of Ray and the high-pitched whistling of the gas escaping.

"He'll… be… back…" he whispered again with a disdainful smirk on his face.

Alexander was not aware when the demon inside unquelled anger took over but the first sound she **was **aware of was the sound of Ray's nose breaking against the solid countertop. And that wasn't all.

Alexander grabbed the boy by his hair before he could even recover from the blow. Every one in the class was absolutely startled by sudden turn of events, the teacher rushed to where Alexander tossed Ray unto the ground.

"You! You fucking asshole! You get paid to tell a stalker where someone is! Didn't that strike you as odd! HUH?!" Alexander kicked the boy on in the stomach. The teacher tried to pull Alexander back but instead Alexander shoved the man out of the way effortlessly and pointed to him.

"Stay the fuck out of this! The best you can do is call the god damn cops! And I am telling you now I am NOT afraid to hit them!" she turned vehemently back to Ray who was stumbling by the door. She kicked a desk at Ray which sent him into the lockers, her expression wasn't even one of anger, it was a condescending mask.

"You piece of shit nearly got me killed!" she seethed. Ray rose up, swung and hit Alexander in the jaw. Certainly there was a bruise on her face but the pain seemed to not phase her. Her fist connected with his face again and her knee to his abdomen. She grabbed him by the collar and tossed him again easily.

There was an onslaught of commotion as students spilled out of their classrooms to witness the fight. It was more like a slaughter. The teacher tried in vain to control the students. A few tried to separate Alex from Ray because now she was using strictly brute force. She elbowed them off easily.

Jacob was in the classroom at the back of the hall elbowed his way to the front, which wasn't very difficult. Embry wasn't on the same floor as them but he was pretty sure people on the floor below them was hearing the drama. _Fuck Alexander! _he thought. _Just don't kill him before I get there!_

Rays attempts at fighting back were uncoordinated and Jacob knew that even if they were, Alexander's strength would demolish the boy. Pinning the boy to the locker, choking him, Alexander felt a grim satisfaction at finding the weakest link now it was just to find the next asshole. She didn't want to kill Ray, she knew that for a fact but beating him into submission was a great way to get across her anger and frustration.

"When? And Where?" Alexander hissed at Ray. "Tell me when he is coming and where?"

The boy could only choke out the response of no, feebly. With one heave Jacob grabbed Alexander back from Ray. He slid to the ground trying to catch his breath. Alexander moved to hit Jacob off but he locked her in place with his strength. She knew that in her current state she had no will power t match the wolf. Just merely enough to beat a human.

"See, Ray, some things about me aren't just simply talk."

By the time Embry and the rest of the pack got out of class and the news of the fighting caught on it was after school. Alexander was sitting in the back of a cop car with handcuffs on and Ray was on a stretcher, of course this was after the EMT cleaned him up a bit. No one could tell Embry the entire story of what started the fight between two but the more Embry looked at Alexander the more her face was completely stolid. When Charlie got in his car to drive off to the station, Alexander finally looked directly at Embry. She raised her hands to the gated mesh that separated her and Charlie and curled her fingers into it. Embry could see the chain on the handcuffs weakening as if you break.

Embry's jaw went rigid and he shook his head frantically as if trying to get something out of it. In his mind he begged. He had never seen Alexander this angry before. He watched as her eyes sparkled with amethyst and she grinned at him, her fangs were undisputedly sharper than before. Secretly Embry begged in his head for her to get the demon under control. He gave her a pleading look, and as the car pulled off he saw Alexander lean back in her seat quiet and seemingly docile.

-_-__-

"Goodbye, Mr. Swan. I'm truly sorry for the inconvenience I've cause you." Alexander said all too politely in a manner Embry had not heard before. His mother was standing in the doorway and Embry shadowed her. Charlie pulled off and Alexander turned to face them. She bowed her head to Embry's mother first.

"Aunty, I'm sorry. On my first day back too."

"What did he say to you?"

"That he was paid $300 to tell someone where I lived, hung out and what was my schedule."

"I'm glad you kicked his ass but you could have killed him."

"I know. I should of showed more restraint…" Alexander was saying all the right things to the right people in the calmest of manners. This to Embry was fishy.

"Please Alexander, it's almost Christmas we don't need dead bodies, okay."

"I assure you, Aunty, that you will have a peaceful Christmas. I will be flying back to my family for that time space." Alexander smiled.

"Oh, child I never said I wanted you gone."

"I know… I know."

Aunty simply shook her head and went back inside.

Embry stared at Alexander and she stared at him. He could see it now. Alexander was excited about something. There was a smug danger in her defiance that he had also never seen before. For a moment he thought of what her succubus side must look like but shook his head.

"Are you alright?"

"Shouldn't you be asking Ray that question?" The girl grinned again.

"You know what I mean." Embry leaned against the door. Alexander stepped into the doorway and stood next to him.

"Warn your pack, because the next few days are going to be very, very rough. And I am not going to ask permission to move." Alexander disappeared down the hall and into the bathroom. Embry closed his eyes and sighed, that was exactly what he was afraid of.

Alexander stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. At first her expression was stolid but as soon as she knew that Embry wasn't outside the door, her figure shook violently. She used the sound of the shower running in the background to cover the sounds of growls and grunts. Her from pupil of her eyes to the white's turned pitch black and her fingers claws. Slowly Alexander began to breath heavy.

"Not yet…" she whispered to herself. "I must control myself."

She undressed quickly and hopped in the shower. As the water slid down her skin, Alexander began to touch herself. Whenever things got her angry to- there was a knock on the door. Shutting off the pipe so she could hear, Alexander rolled her eyes and opened the shower curtain.

"Yes?"

"I'm leaving for the Clearwaters' house. Sue isn't feeling good. She's really sick I will be spending the night there." Embry's mother finished.

"Alright. We're not going anywhere." Alexander said looking sidelong as the footsteps on the other side of the door fade. . She steps out tub, dries her skin, and wraps the towel around her lithe body. Slowly she walks out into the hall and to the kitchen. Without regarding Embry who was bent over the sink washing the dishes, she goes into fridge and retrieves something to drink.

Leaning with her back against the fridge she watches him. He was bare back with his jeans hanging low on his hips. Alexander's eyes landed on the dimples of his back right above the rim pf his pants and she shuddered. Her mouth saturated with saliva.

"You can stop staring at me now…" Embry said without turning around.

"Mhmm…" Alexander buried her guilty face in the fridge again.

"So can you tell me what is going to happen this week?"

"Did you call Jacob?"

"Yes, I did."

"Good boy." Alexander smirked. Embry stopped washing the dish for a brief second to look at her. "Sorry, it's a habit." He resumed his dish-washing. Alexander's eyes once again glues to Embry's back from the sloping of his neck. This was too much.

"What are you planning Alexander?"

"Nothing." She soothed, she was suddenly right behind him.

"Y-you expect me to believe that?" Embry whispered, tense. He hated the feeling of being hunted and that was exactly what Alexander was doing. The feeling of her breath on his back made him shiver.

"Stop it, Alexander."

"No."

"What ever you are planning tell me. Don't go through with it alone."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not planning anything." Alexander whispered to his skin. Embry had long since finished the dishes, yet he was still frozen in that one spot.

"Alex… How can you still do this after what happened today? Don't you at least need time to think?" he tried to side step her, but Alexander's arms snaked around his torso. One hand slid up his chest while the other went for his pants button. He felt her bare chest against his back.

"Not tonight. We don't know if my mother will be back-!"

"She won't be…" she cut him off. "Embry are you going to resist me?"

"Yes and by force if I have too." He grasped her wrist firmly. From the corner of his eye he caught the grin on her face he tried to move away quickly, it was too late. Alex bit him at the base of his neck and shoulder. Embry groan, and whispered a curse at her deception. His resolve began to deteriorate and that was all it took to have him. He hated it when she used this tactic. Her saliva had some weird chemical that made him lose all reason except for that of sexual release. Usually he would taste it when they kissed, it was always bitter sweet.

Embry's breathing became ragged and he didn't even have time to try another feeble resistance. Alexander's hand was already in Embry's pants and she bit him a second time. Embry gripped the edge of the sink as he gasped. He ground his teeth against a moan that was escaping him.

"Al- Alex st-stop!" It sometimes started like this. He would say no, she would say yes, and he's always lose in the end, simply because she had the advantage in this part of their relationship.

"Not a chance in hell." Alexander growled.

Finally sliding her had out of his pants, she took half a step back. Not before he recaptured her in his arms, crushing his lips to hers. Embry loved the feel of her cool skin against his. He moved to kiss her neck, just bellow her ear was her favorite spot. She moaned attempting press her body closer to his. One of his hands slipped against her thighs as she lifted it to curl around his leg. Embry pressed his hard on against her and growled into her neck.

It was always like this. She would initiate and he would dominate. It was as if she already knew the unspoken rule of how wolves do not like to be dominated. Alexander gripped at the roots of Embry's hair as he pulled back to look at her,

"Be rough with me." It was like a master giving a command and it didn't take him long to lift up and drop her on the kitchen table. Usually it never went any further than oral but tonight, Embry could sense that this was going to all the way. Sometimes there was no stopping Alex once she's started. He suckled on her nipple while playing with the other with his fingers. He felt the little tremors of current running under both their skins. It always fascinated and excited him when she first allowed him to feel pleasure from it. Slowly he kisses and bites his way down her torso, she is trembling and impatient. Embry grips her hips as he swirls his tongue into her navel. This was for real he parted her lips with his two fingers and enters her and starts moving again, he watches as she can barely contain her breath.

"F-forget it, Embry. Just enter me… please…" Alexander choked out. She wanted to feed she didn't want foreplay, there was no hiding that fact.

"Are you sure?" Embry whispered to her skin as he flicked his tongue along her clit.

"God damn it! Look who you're asking?!" her back arches slightly. "Ah..."

Embry relents, he doubts his mother will stay the whole night at the Clearwaters. Once Sue settles enough and is in bed she will be back. He removes his pants and positions himself just outside her opening.

"No Condom." He taunts.

"Stop being responsible for the next hour or so!" Alexander snaps at him, then wraps her legs tightly around his hips. Embry closes his eyes as he make the first initial thrust and everything became charged with electricity. Embry gripped the sides of the table to steady himself. With a single thrust there was three times the about of pleasure. When his vision cleared he looked down at Alexander's sly smiling face.

"Come on to me…" she whispered and Embry did.

Devouring every bit of pleasure that Alexander had to offer.


End file.
